QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

18km SE of Livermore, CA

· 3.1 km deep · released about 19 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 25 kmSanta Clara County 37 kmContra Costa County 48 kmSan Joaquin County 54 kmStanislaus County 57 kmSan Mateo County 65 kmSanta Cruz County 68 kmSolano County 83 kmMerced County 91 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Alameda County, 25 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2852 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 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 790,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 560,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 50× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 37.5533, -121.6528. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 25 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Clara County, CA 37 km (23 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Contra Costa County, CA 48 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Joaquin County, CA 54 km (34 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
Stanislaus County, CA 57 km (36 mi) W of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County
San Mateo County, CA 65 km (41 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  2. 2.0 3km E of Union City, CA
  3. 1.7 5km WNW of Sunol, CA
  4. 1.7 2km NNW of San Leandro, CA
  5. 1.7 3km WNW of Diablo, CA
  6. 1.5 3km S of Loyola, CA
  7. 2.3 8km E of Alum Rock, CA
  8. 1.7 11km SE of Livermore, CA
  9. 2.5 12km NNE of Morgan Hill, CA
  10. 2.7 3km NNE of San Ramon, CA
  11. 2.4 17km ESE of Livermore, CA
  12. 2.1 3km SW of Monte Sereno, CA
  13. 2.0 11km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  14. 1.8 12km SSW of Mountain House, CA
  15. 1.7 12km SSW of Mountain House, 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 2,100 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.