QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

8 km SSW of Martinez, CA

· 7.6 km deep · released about 9.6 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Contra Costa County 18 kmSolano County 40 kmAlameda County 40 kmMarin County 53 kmSan Mateo County 63 kmNapa County 63 kmSan Joaquin County 78 kmSan Francisco County 81 kmYolo County 84 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
7.6 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Contra Costa County, 18 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1003 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 9.6 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 37.9533, -122.1573. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Contra Costa County, CA 18 km (11 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Solano County, CA 40 km (25 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Solano County
Alameda County, CA 40 km (25 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
Marin County, CA 53 km (33 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Marin County
San Mateo County, CA 63 km (39 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Napa County, CA 63 km (39 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Napa 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. 1.6 6 km ESE of Santa Venetia, CA
  2. 1.9 2 km NW of Alamo, CA
  3. 1.8 2 km SE of Pacheco, CA
  4. 2.4 3 km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  5. 1.8 3 km ENE of Oakland, CA
  6. 1.5 5 km E of Vallejo, CA
  7. 2.3 4 km NNW of American Canyon, CA
  8. 2.0 4 km SSW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  9. 1.7 6 km WNW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  10. 2.3 4 km ENE of Walnut Creek, CA
  11. 1.6 1 km SSW of Alamo, CA
  12. 1.5 3 km SW of San Ramon, CA
  13. 2.9 3 km SW of Discovery Bay, CA
  14. 1.6 2 km N of Byron, CA
  15. 2.3 3 km NNE of Byron, 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 15,000 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.