QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

1 km SW of Blackhawk, California

· 6.4 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 12 kmAlameda County 18 kmSolano County 51 kmSan Joaquin County 59 kmSan Mateo County 59 kmSanta Clara County 69 kmMarin County 77 kmNapa County 85 kmStanislaus County 85 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
6.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 12 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3515 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 37.8120, -121.9205. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 12 km (8 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Alameda County, CA 18 km (11 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Solano County, CA 51 km (31 mi) S of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Joaquin County, CA 59 km (36 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
San Mateo County, CA 59 km (37 mi) NE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Santa Clara County, CA 69 km (43 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

48 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.6 1 km W of Diablo, California
  2. 2.8 Northern California
  3. 1.6 6 km NE of East Foothills, California
  4. 1.6 3 km NE of Vallejo, California
  5. 1.8 10 km NNE of East Foothills, California
  6. 1.7 1 km W of Diablo, California
  7. 2.0 5 km WSW of Martinez, California
  8. 1.7 4 km S of Pittsburg, California
  9. 1.9 6 km W of Country Club, California
  10. 1.5 1 km S of Livermore, California
  11. 2.1 8 km N of East Foothills, California
  12. 2.8 8 km SE of Livermore, California
  13. 1.6 2 km ESE of Waldon, California
  14. 1.8 9 km SW of Brentwood, California
  15. 1.5 0 km NW of Concord, California

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.