Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.5mw
1km SSE of Pleasant Hill, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.5 (mw)
- Depth
- 14 km below the surface
- Felt
- 45899 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
- Measured shaking
- intensity VI (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Nearest
- Contra Costa County, 9 km ESE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 370 days ago
This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 45899 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 74 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,300× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 100× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 72× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.5 about 74 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 150× more
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 37.9380, -122.0570. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contra Costa County, CA | 9 km (6 mi) | WNW of here | earthquakes near Contra Costa County |
| Alameda County, CA | 35 km (22 mi) | NNW of here | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Solano County, CA | 38 km (24 mi) | SSW of here | earthquakes near Solano County |
| Marin County, CA | 62 km (38 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Marin County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | NNE of here | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Napa County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near Napa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 10km SE of Livermore, CA
- 2.4 2km E of Pacheco, CA
- 2.0 1km ESE of Pacheco, CA
- 1.9 5km NNW of San Leandro, CA
- 1.9 5km NE of Fairview, CA
- 1.6 10km ENE of Blackhawk, CA
- 1.6 5km NE of Fairview, CA
- 1.9 5km W of Dublin, CA
- 1.9 6km NE of Alamo, CA
- 2.6 3km NW of Castro Valley, CA
- 1.6 1km S of Pleasant Hill, CA
- 2.2 2km WNW of Orinda, CA
- 1.6 3km ESE of Pleasanton, CA
- 2.1 2km NE of San Leandro, CA
- 1.7 4km NNE of Dublin, 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.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.