QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

5km WSW of Pacheco, CA

· 9.0 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 16 kmSolano County 38 kmAlameda County 39 kmMarin County 55 kmNapa County 63 kmSan Mateo County 64 kmSan Joaquin County 75 kmYolo County 82 kmSan Francisco County 84 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
9.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 16 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1716 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 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 80× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 37.9600, -122.1252. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 16 km (10 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Solano County, CA 38 km (24 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Solano County
Alameda County, CA 39 km (25 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Marin County, CA 55 km (34 mi) E of here earthquakes near Marin County
Napa County, CA 63 km (39 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Napa County
San Mateo County, CA 64 km (40 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5km E of Vallejo, CA
  2. 1.6 7km S of Muir Beach, CA
  3. 2.0 9km NE of Blackhawk, CA
  4. 1.5 13km N of Green Valley, CA
  5. 1.8 3km SW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  6. 1.5 5km E of Vallejo, CA
  7. 2.0 2km E of Pacheco, CA
  8. 2.2 2km NW of Diablo, CA
  9. 2.1 3km NE of Berkeley, CA
  10. 2.0 2km E of Hayward, CA
  11. 1.6 2km E of Hayward, CA
  12. 1.6 2km ESE of Hayward, CA
  13. 1.9 4km NNW of Crockett, CA
  14. 1.8 3km W of American Canyon, CA
  15. 1.5 8km WSW of Brentwood, 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 12,000 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.