QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Earthquake near Fairfield, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Fairfield in the 24 hours to 7:03 am PST (15:03 UTC). The last one was M 2.4, 18 km (11 mi) W, at 10:47 am PDT on 6 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1 felt report to USGS. Every earthquake near Fairfield

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 9 km (6 mi) south-southeast of Fairfield, CA, at 6:39 pm PDT on 6 July 2022 (01:39 UTC), 18 km deep.

USGS: 8km SSE of Suisun City, CA

10 km (6 mi) SSE of Fairfield, CA · 57 km (36 mi) NE of San Francisco, CA

6:39 pm PDT, Jul 6, 2022 · · 18 km deep · released about 8.4 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Solano County 11 kmContra Costa County 29 kmNapa County 47 kmYolo County 57 kmAlameda County 59 kmSacramento County 65 kmMarin County 67 kmSan Joaquin County 69 kmSonoma 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
6:39 pm PDT on 6 July 2022 ()
Where
9 km (6 mi) south-southeast of Fairfield, CA · earthquakes near Fairfield
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Solano County, 11 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault
Cordelia fault, 12 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1590 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Fairfield, 9 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Suisun, Green Valley, Bay Point, Pittsburg, Benicia, Vacaville.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.4 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2019-10-15 — about 18,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 28 km W of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 43 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 South of Elmira, California · 16 km NNE of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 11 km E of Blackhawk, California · 45 km SSE of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 38.1762, -121.9992. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Solano County, CA 11 km (7 mi) NNE earthquakes near Solano County
Contra Costa County, CA 29 km (18 mi) S earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Napa County, CA 47 km (29 mi) NW earthquakes near Napa County
Yolo County, CA 57 km (35 mi) N earthquakes near Yolo County
Alameda County, CA 59 km (37 mi) S earthquakes near Alameda County
Sacramento County, CA 65 km (40 mi) ENE earthquakes near Sacramento 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 3km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  2. 1.5 3km N of Piedmont, CA
  3. 1.5 5km SSE of Rodeo, CA
  4. 2.1 1km WNW of Kensington, CA
  5. 2.3 1km WNW of Kensington, CA
  6. 2.2 1km W of Kensington, CA
  7. 2.1 9km SSW of Brentwood, CA
  8. 1.5 4km WSW of Antioch, CA
  9. 2.1 5km SW of Antioch, CA
  10. 1.7 6km NNW of Lafayette, CA
  11. 1.6 7km ESE of Santa Venetia, CA
  12. 1.7 1km NE of Diablo, CA
  13. 2.0 7km WNW of Davis, CA
  14. 2.0 6km WNW of Davis, CA
  15. 1.8 2km NNW of Oakland, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.