QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

4km ESE of Fremont, CA

· 5.7 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 14 kmSan Mateo County 40 kmSanta Clara County 41 kmContra Costa County 44 kmSanta Cruz County 57 kmSan Joaquin County 75 kmSolano County 82 kmStanislaus County 83 kmMarin County 92 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
5.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Alameda County, 14 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2315 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 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 37.5267, -121.9440. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 14 km (9 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 40 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Santa Clara County, CA 41 km (25 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Contra Costa County, CA 44 km (27 mi) S of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Santa Cruz County, CA 57 km (36 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
San Joaquin County, CA 75 km (46 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

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

  1. 1.9 9km E of Alum Rock, CA
  2. 1.9 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  3. 1.6 3km ESE of Union City, CA
  4. 3.0 8km NE of Alum Rock, CA
  5. 2.5 11km SSW of Brentwood, CA
  6. 2.6 11km ENE of Milpitas, CA
  7. 1.8 9km NNE of Milpitas, CA
  8. 2.2 10km NE of Milpitas, CA
  9. 2.3 9km NE of Blackhawk, CA
  10. 2.2 6km E of Alum Rock, CA
  11. 1.6 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  12. 2.0 3km W of Portola Valley, CA
  13. 1.5 3km W of Portola Valley, CA
  14. 1.5 4km WSW of Brentwood, CA
  15. 1.6 16km ESE of Alum Rock, 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 22,000 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.