QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

3km SW of El Cerrito, CA

· 7.9 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 34 kmMarin County 40 kmAlameda County 46 kmSan Mateo County 54 kmSolano County 54 kmSan Francisco County 64 kmNapa County 68 kmSonoma County 87 kmSan Joaquin County 93 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
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 34 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1405 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

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 37.8953, -122.3340. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 34 km (21 mi) W of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Marin County, CA 40 km (25 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Marin County
Alameda County, CA 46 km (29 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 54 km (33 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Solano County, CA 54 km (33 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Francisco County, CA 64 km (40 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Francisco 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 NNW of Lafayette, CA
  2. 2.1 0km SSW of Crockett, CA
  3. 1.7 10km WNW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  4. 1.9 3km W of Orinda, CA
  5. 1.6 6km E of Santa Venetia, CA
  6. 1.9 1km S of Crockett, CA
  7. 1.8 3km NNW of Emeryville, CA
  8. 2.1 1km N of El Cerrito, CA
  9. 1.9 1km SSE of Crockett, CA
  10. 1.5 0km W of Kensington, CA
  11. 2.0 3km SE of American Canyon, CA
  12. 1.6 2km SSE of Pacheco, CA
  13. 1.6 2km S of Oakland, CA
  14. 1.6 2km S of San Ramon, CA
  15. 1.9 3km E of Hayward, 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.