Earthquake near Portola Valley, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Portola Valley, 4 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.

Likely felt in: Menlo Park 6 km, intensity II · Palo Alto 7 km, intensity II · Redwood City 9 km, intensity II · Los Altos 9 km, intensity II · East Palo Alto 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.1 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 1,900,000× 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 3.0 120× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 5.1 on 2022-10-25 — about 140,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.9 The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 48 km NW of this epicentre Apr 18, 1906
2. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 38 km ESE of this epicentre Aug 3, 1903
3. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 48 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 24, 1984
4. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 43 km ESE of this epicentre Jun 11, 1903
5. 5.8 7 km NNW of Boulder Creek, California · 25 km SSE of this epicentre Sep 5, 1955

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 37.4097, -122.2118. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 4 km NNW of Pacifica, CA 01:07 UTC
2. 2.3 9 km ESE of Fremont, CA 08:32 UTC
3. 2.1 15 km E of Seven Trees, CA 09:09 UTC
4. 1.5 2 km SW of Alamo, CA 19:37 UTC
5. 2.2 4 km N of San Leandro, CA 02:43 UTC
6. 2.1 3 km NE of San Leandro, CA 00:29 UTC
7. 2.0 3 km N of San Leandro, CA 20:57 UTC
8. 2.4 3 km N of San Leandro, CA 18:16 UTC
9. 2.1 22 km WNW of Boulder Creek, CA 21:10 UTC
10. 1.6 4 km NNE of Day Valley, CA 14:35 UTC
11. 2.1 9 km E of Milpitas, CA 15:27 UTC
12. 1.9 4 km NNE of Day Valley, CA 14:25 UTC
13. 2.1 4 km NNE of Day Valley, CA 14:24 UTC
14. 2.4 4 km NNE of Day Valley, CA 13:27 UTC
15. 1.5 6 km ENE of Burlingame, CA 04:23 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:24 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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