Earthquake near San Francisco, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In San Francisco, 44 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Inverness, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Woodacre, Bolinas, Sleepy Hollow, Fairfax.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 13 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 1,100,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 72× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 39 km SE of this epicentre Apr 18, 1906
2. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 47 km ENE of this epicentre Aug 24, 2014
3. 5.3 The 1957 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 50 km SSE of this epicentre Mar 22, 1957
4. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 31 km N of this epicentre Oct 2, 1969
5. 5.3 Northern California · 31 km N of this epicentre Oct 2, 1969

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 38.0405, -122.7973. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 4km SSW of Vallejo, CA 12:43 UTC
2. 1.8 4km SSW of Bodega Bay, CA 09:06 UTC
3. 1.8 6km WSW of Colma, CA 16:57 UTC
4. 1.9 6km WSW of Colma, CA 15:48 UTC
5. 1.6 6km WSW of Colma, CA 15:47 UTC
6. 3.5 5km WSW of Colma, CA 15:41 UTC
7. 1.8 1km E of El Cerrito, CA 02:00 UTC
8. 1.7 2km SSE of American Canyon, CA 19:36 UTC
9. 2.6 6km WSW of San Francisco Zoo, CA 20:27 UTC
10. 2.5 6km WSW of San Francisco Zoo, CA 18:45 UTC
11. 1.6 4km ESE of Kenwood, CA 18:03 UTC
12. 2.2 6km WSW of Yountville, CA 01:24 UTC
13. 1.5 2km NW of Roseland, CA 22:05 UTC
14. 2.2 3km WSW of American Canyon, CA 02:27 UTC
15. 2.1 2km WNW of Vallejo, CA 04:17 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 19:41 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.