QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

4km W of Cupertino, CA

· 8.1 km deep · released about 220 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Mateo County 28 kmSanta Cruz County 34 kmSanta Clara County 36 kmAlameda County 40 kmContra Costa County 68 kmSan Francisco County 96 kmStanislaus County 99 kmSan Joaquin County 99 kmMarin County 101 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
366 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
San Mateo County, 28 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2811 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 366 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 220 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 68,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 48,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 220 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 37.3163, -122.0773. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Mateo County, CA 28 km (18 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Santa Cruz County, CA 34 km (21 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 36 km (22 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 40 km (25 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 68 km (42 mi) S of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Francisco County, CA 96 km (60 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Francisco County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  2. 1.8 3km NNE of Fremont, CA
  3. 1.9 10km NNW of Boulder Creek, CA
  4. 2.2 1km NE of San Leandro, CA
  5. 1.8 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  6. 1.6 7km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  7. 1.7 7km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  8. 1.8 6km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  9. 2.0 6km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  10. 1.8 14km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 2.2 6km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  12. 2.1 6km NNE of Castro Valley, CA
  13. 1.7 2km E of Hayward, CA
  14. 1.7 6km E of Fremont, CA
  15. 1.8 9km ENE of Milpitas, CA

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — it released about 180 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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