QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

9km ENE of Milpitas, CA

· 3.1 km deep · released about 230 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 22 kmSanta Clara County 30 kmSan Mateo County 50 kmContra Costa County 52 kmSanta Cruz County 54 kmSan Joaquin County 70 kmStanislaus County 72 kmSolano County 90 kmMerced 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
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
19 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Alameda County, 22 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2779 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 19 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 230 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 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 46,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 230 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 37.4680, -121.8137. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 22 km (14 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Clara County, CA 30 km (18 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
San Mateo County, CA 50 km (31 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Contra Costa County, CA 52 km (32 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Santa Cruz County, CA 54 km (33 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Joaquin County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 12km ESE of Alum Rock, CA
  2. 2.0 5km N of San Leandro, CA
  3. 1.8 3km S of Alamo, CA
  4. 2.1 8km E of Alum Rock, CA
  5. 1.6 22km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  6. 2.0 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  7. 2.7 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  8. 2.2 5km WSW of Cupertino, CA
  9. 1.8 10km E of Alum Rock, CA
  10. 1.5 12km E of Blackhawk, CA
  11. 2.6 4km ESE of Oakland, CA
  12. 3.1 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  13. 1.9 11km ENE of San Martin, CA
  14. 1.5 3km ENE of Oakland, CA
  15. 1.6 14km SSE of Livermore, 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.