chemical explosion · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.0md
Earthquake near Mountain House, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Mountain House in the 24 hours to 1:34 am PST (09:34 UTC). The last one was M 3.5, 41 km (26 mi) S, at 7:21 am PDT on 27 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 8 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Mountain House
No: USGS classifies this as a chemical explosion, not an earthquake. A magnitude 2.0 chemical explosion was recorded 8 km (5 mi) west-southwest of Mountain House, CA, at 5:00 pm PDT on 8 September 2020 (00:00 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
USGS: 8km WSW of Mountain House, CA
14 km (8 mi) NE of Livermore, CA · 54 km (33 mi) NNE of San Jose, CA
- When
- 5:00 pm PDT on 8 September 2020 ()
- Where
- 8 km (5 mi) west-southwest of Mountain House, CA · earthquakes near Mountain House
- Magnitude
- M 2.0 (md)
- Depth
- -0.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Alameda County, 27 km WSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Corral Hollow-Carnegie fault, 7 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2252 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Mountain House, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Mountain House, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. In Mountain House, 8 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.
Likely felt in: Livermore 14 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
USGS catalogues this as chemical explosion, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 28 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 540,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 380,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 34× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.0 about 28 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2019-10-15 — about 5,200 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 50 km S of this epicentre
- 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 15 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.7 15 km NE of East Foothills, California · 31 km S of this epicentre
- 5.5 6 km NNE of East Foothills, California · 38 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.4 9 km NE of Livermore, California · 6 km W of this epicentre
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 37.7558, -121.6327. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alameda County, CA | 27 km (17 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Contra Costa County, CA | 33 km (21 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Contra Costa County |
| San Joaquin County, CA | 37 km (23 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near San Joaquin County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 59 km (37 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 60 km (37 mi) | S | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Solano County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Solano County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 4km WNW of Dublin, CA
- 1.7 4km WNW of Dublin, CA
- 2.3 4km WNW of Dublin, CA
- 2.0 2km E of Pacheco, CA
- 1.8 2km N of Knightsen, CA
- 1.7 5km S of Blackhawk, CA
- 1.6 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
- 1.8 7km N of Pittsburg, CA
- 1.7 1km WSW of Pleasant Hill, CA
- 2.2 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
- 1.5 10km SSE of Sunol, CA
- 2.0 8km N of Pittsburg, CA
- 2.0 6km NNE of Pittsburg, CA
- 2.3 2km ESE of Pleasanton, CA
- 1.9 5km NE 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.
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.