QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

2km N of Knightsen, CA

· 7.9 km deep · released about 14 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 26 kmSan Joaquin County 35 kmSolano County 40 kmAlameda County 43 kmSacramento County 59 kmStanislaus County 75 kmYolo County 80 kmNapa County 82 kmSanta Clara County 85 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 26 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2116 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 14 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 68× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 37.9845, -121.6652. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 26 km (16 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Joaquin County, CA 35 km (22 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
Solano County, CA 40 km (25 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Solano County
Alameda County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Sacramento County, CA 59 km (37 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Sacramento County
Stanislaus County, CA 75 km (46 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Stanislaus County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 1km SW of Danville, CA
  2. 2.0 10km E of Blackhawk, CA
  3. 1.8 9km E of Blackhawk, CA
  4. 1.9 5km NW of Dublin, CA
  5. 1.6 5km NW of Dublin, CA
  6. 2.1 6km WNW of Dublin, CA
  7. 2.2 5km WNW of Dublin, CA
  8. 2.0 6km WNW of Dublin, CA
  9. 2.2 5km NW of Dublin, CA
  10. 1.6 5km NW of Dublin, CA
  11. 1.9 6km SW of Clayton, CA
  12. 1.5 4km NW of Dublin, CA
  13. 1.6 2km W of Concord, CA
  14. 1.5 0km NW of Danville, CA
  15. 2.1 1km WNW of Danville, 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 10,000 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.