QuakeIndex

chemical explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.2md

10km NNE of Livermore, CA

· -0.3 km deep · released about 64 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 21 kmContra Costa County 26 kmSan Joaquin County 44 kmSolano County 59 kmSanta Clara County 60 kmStanislaus County 68 kmSan Mateo County 69 kmSacramento County 83 kmSanta Cruz County 87 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 2.2 (md)
Depth
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Alameda County, 21 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2964 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as chemical explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 64 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 230,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 170,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 15× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 64 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 37.7638, -121.7303. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 21 km (13 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 26 km (16 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Joaquin County, CA 44 km (28 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
Solano County, CA 59 km (37 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Solano County
Santa Clara County, CA 60 km (38 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Stanislaus County, CA 68 km (42 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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. 2.8 6km WNW of Mountain House, CA
  2. 2.5 3km ESE of San Leandro, CA
  3. 1.5 16km SSE of Livermore, CA
  4. 1.7 2km E of Hayward, CA
  5. 1.6 2km W of Diablo, CA
  6. 2.7 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  7. 2.5 9km E of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 2.8 15km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  9. 1.8 2km NE of San Ramon, CA
  10. 2.0 14km N of Pittsburg, CA
  11. 2.2 1km NNW of Alamo, CA
  12. 1.6 2km SW of Diablo, CA
  13. 1.9 10km ENE of Milpitas, CA
  14. 1.5 3km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  15. 1.7 3km NW of Diablo, 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 4.4 on 2018-01-04 — it released about 1,700 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.