QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

1km ENE of El Cerrito, CA

· 5.0 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 30 kmMarin County 42 kmAlameda County 45 kmSolano County 50 kmSan Mateo County 56 kmNapa County 65 kmSan Francisco County 68 kmSonoma County 87 kmSan Joaquin County 90 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
5.0 km below the surface
Felt
1256 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 30 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1426 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1256 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 37.9190, -122.2992. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 30 km (19 mi) W of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Marin County, CA 42 km (26 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Marin County
Alameda County, CA 45 km (28 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Solano County, CA 50 km (31 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Mateo County, CA 56 km (35 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Napa County, CA 65 km (41 mi) S of here earthquakes near Napa 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. 2.3 3km W of Orinda, CA
  2. 1.6 8km SSE of Suisun City, CA
  3. 1.6 3km E of Oakland, CA
  4. 1.6 5km E of Vallejo, CA
  5. 1.6 6km ESE of Penngrove, CA
  6. 2.2 6km ESE of Penngrove, CA
  7. 1.6 9km NNE of Benicia, CA
  8. 1.9 1km W of Martinez, CA
  9. 1.5 2km NE of San Ramon, CA
  10. 1.6 5km E of Blackhawk, CA
  11. 1.6 2km NNE of Pleasant Hill, CA
  12. 1.9 7km NW of Bay Point, CA
  13. 1.8 7km NW of Bay Point, CA
  14. 2.0 6km NW of Bay Point, CA
  15. 2.2 7km NW of Bay Point, 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 310 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.