QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

2km SSE of Alamo, CA

· 7.1 km deep · released about 17 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 11 kmAlameda County 23 kmSolano County 48 kmSan Mateo County 56 kmSan Joaquin County 67 kmMarin County 67 kmSanta Clara County 75 kmNapa County 79 kmSan Francisco County 89 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
7.1 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 11 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1538 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 640,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 57× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 37.8378, -122.0268. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 11 km (7 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Alameda County, CA 23 km (15 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Solano County, CA 48 km (30 mi) S of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Mateo County, CA 56 km (35 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
San Joaquin County, CA 67 km (42 mi) W of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
Marin County, CA 67 km (42 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

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

  1. 1.8 2km NNW of Oakland, CA
  2. 1.9 3km WNW of Concord, CA
  3. 1.5 2km W of Concord, CA
  4. 1.7 2km WNW of Concord, CA
  5. 2.1 2km NNE of San Leandro, CA
  6. 1.7 4km WNW of Dublin, CA
  7. 2.6 4km WSW of Colma, CA
  8. 1.5 7km E of Santa Venetia, CA
  9. 1.6 11km NE of Milpitas, CA
  10. 2.2 10km SE of Sunol, CA
  11. 2.1 10km ESE of Fremont, CA
  12. 1.9 8km WSW of Mountain House, CA
  13. 2.1 6km NW of Bay Point, CA
  14. 2.2 4km W of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  15. 1.9 2km ENE of Berkeley, 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 8,800 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.