QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

6km SW of Clayton, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 25 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 4 kmAlameda County 29 kmSolano County 41 kmSan Joaquin County 63 kmSan Mateo County 64 kmMarin County 69 kmNapa County 74 kmSanta Clara County 80 kmSacramento County 83 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 4 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1955 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 420,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 38× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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 37.9008, -121.9840. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 4 km (2 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Alameda County, CA 29 km (18 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Solano County, CA 41 km (25 mi) S of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Joaquin County, CA 63 km (39 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
San Mateo County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Marin County, CA 69 km (43 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Marin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  2. 1.8 5km ENE of Vallejo, CA
  3. 1.7 8km SSW of Livermore, CA
  4. 1.8 3km SW of Alamo, CA
  5. 1.9 3km SW of Clayton, CA
  6. 1.8 1km ENE of Alamo, CA
  7. 1.7 5km WNW of Dublin, CA
  8. 1.5 5km E of Fremont, CA
  9. 1.6 1km NE of Berkeley, CA
  10. 2.0 1km NNW of Pleasant Hill, CA
  11. 1.6 9km WSW of Mountain House, CA
  12. 1.5 2km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  13. 1.9 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  14. 1.5 4km E of Moraga, CA
  15. 2.2 4km NNE of Blackhawk, 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 5,800 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.