Earthquake near Berkeley, CA

A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 2 km (1 mi) E of Berkeley, CA, at 6:20 pm PST on 10 January 2017 (02:20 UTC). 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS. This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Albany, Piedmont, Emeryville, Kensington, Orinda, Oakland.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 870,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 620,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 55× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 29 km WSW of this epicentre Apr 18, 1906
2. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 39 km N of this epicentre Aug 24, 2014
3. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 42 km E of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980
4. 5.4 9 km NE of Livermore, California · 50 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 27, 1980
5. 5.3 The 1957 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 30 km SW of this epicentre Mar 22, 1957

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 37.8680, -122.2497. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 1 km SSW of Livermore, California 01:23 UTC
2. 2.7 2 km SSE of Livermore, California 01:16 UTC
3. 2.1 2 km SSE of Livermore, California 01:14 UTC
4. 2.0 1 km NE of Diablo, California 21:08 UTC
5. 1.9 11 km SW of Brentwood, California 02:10 UTC
6. 3.8 8 km E of Blackhawk, California 01:29 UTC
7. 2.0 11 km NNW of Pittsburg, California 23:28 UTC
8. 1.9 12 km NNE of Bay Point, California 22:59 UTC
9. 2.1 10 km N of Bay Point, California 22:58 UTC
10. 1.6 7 km SW of Napa, California 20:00 UTC
11. 1.5 5 km ESE of Fremont, California 04:44 UTC
12. 1.9 1 km NNE of Pacifica, California 11:52 UTC
13. 1.7 4 km SW of Broadmoor, California 07:04 UTC
14. 1.6 4 km SW of Broadmoor, California 07:38 UTC
15. 1.8 4 km SW of Broadmoor, California 06:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:28 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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