QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

3km S of Los Altos Hills, CA

· 6.5 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Mateo County 21 kmAlameda County 38 kmSanta Cruz County 40 kmSanta Clara County 43 kmContra Costa County 65 kmSan Francisco County 89 kmMarin County 94 kmSan Joaquin County 100 kmSolano County 103 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
6.5 km below the surface
Felt
403 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Mateo County, 21 km WNW
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. 403 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 37.3543, -122.1412. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Mateo County, CA 21 km (13 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Alameda County, CA 38 km (24 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Cruz County, CA 40 km (25 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 43 km (26 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Contra Costa County, CA 65 km (40 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Francisco County, CA 89 km (55 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Francisco County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 4km WSW of Pleasanton, CA
  2. 1.9 9km NNE of Alum Rock, CA
  3. 2.6 7km E of Alum Rock, CA
  4. 2.5 15km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
  5. 1.7 10km SE of Sunol, CA
  6. 2.5 15km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  7. 1.6 16km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  8. 2.1 10km SE of Sunol, CA
  9. 2.0 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  10. 1.6 6km ESE of Fairview, CA
  11. 1.9 6km E of Milpitas, CA
  12. 1.6 5km E of Alum Rock, CA
  13. 2.1 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  14. 2.6 1km ENE of Union City, CA
  15. 1.9 16km E of Seven Trees, 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 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — it released about 86 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.