QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

3km NW of Castro Valley, CA

· 5.7 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 19 kmContra Costa County 27 kmSan Mateo County 40 kmSolano County 64 kmSanta Clara County 66 kmMarin County 67 kmSan Joaquin County 78 kmSanta Cruz County 78 kmSan Francisco County 81 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
5.7 km below the surface
Felt
315 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Alameda County, 19 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1433 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 315 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 280 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 55,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 39,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 37.7113, -122.1112. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 19 km (12 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 27 km (17 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Mateo County, CA 40 km (25 mi) NE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Solano County, CA 64 km (40 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Solano County
Santa Clara County, CA 66 km (41 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Marin County, CA 67 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Marin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 1km S of San Ramon, CA
  2. 1.7 1km E of Fremont, CA
  3. 1.7 4km NNW of Pittsburg, CA
  4. 2.4 3km NW of Pittsburg, CA
  5. 1.6 4km ENE of Walnut Creek, CA
  6. 2.1 10km SE of Livermore, CA
  7. 1.6 1km N of San Pablo, CA
  8. 2.0 12km SW of Byron, CA
  9. 1.7 1km NE of Diablo, CA
  10. 2.1 1km NE of Diablo, CA
  11. 1.8 0km E of Diablo, CA
  12. 1.5 0km E of Diablo, CA
  13. 1.7 2km ESE of Woodside, CA
  14. 1.5 2km WNW of Concord, CA
  15. 1.7 3km ENE of San Ramon, 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 4.5 on 2019-10-15 — it released about 540 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.