QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

19km SSE of Livermore, CA

· 3.4 km deep · released about 630 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 24 kmSanta Clara County 34 kmContra Costa County 49 kmSan Joaquin County 59 kmSan Mateo County 61 kmStanislaus County 61 kmSanta Cruz County 63 kmSolano County 85 kmMerced 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
3.4 km below the surface
Felt
14 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Alameda County, 24 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 985 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 14 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 630 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 24,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 17,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 630 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 37.5250, -121.6948. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 24 km (15 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Santa Clara County, CA 34 km (21 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Contra Costa County, CA 49 km (31 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Joaquin County, CA 59 km (37 mi) SW of here earthquakes near San Joaquin County
San Mateo County, CA 61 km (38 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Stanislaus County, CA 61 km (38 mi) W of here earthquakes near Stanislaus 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. 1.9 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
  2. 1.6 4km NNW of Diablo, CA
  3. 1.6 3km N of Danville, CA
  4. 1.6 2km E of Union City, CA
  5. 2.2 2km ENE of Union City, CA
  6. 2.3 11km ENE of Milpitas, CA
  7. 1.9 14km N of Morgan Hill, CA
  8. 1.5 8km SSW of Antioch, CA
  9. 2.0 14km ENE of Seven Trees, CA
  10. 1.6 16km E of Seven Trees, CA
  11. 1.6 2km S of Blackhawk, CA
  12. 2.0 2km S of Blackhawk, CA
  13. 1.8 2km S of Blackhawk, CA
  14. 2.0 2km S of Blackhawk, CA
  15. 1.7 12km ESE of Alum Rock, 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 5.1 on 2022-10-25 — it released about 1,900 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.