QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

6 km S of Alameda, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alameda County 30 kmSan Mateo County 35 kmContra Costa County 35 kmMarin County 58 kmSolano County 67 kmSan Francisco County 69 kmSanta Clara County 74 kmSanta Cruz County 81 kmNapa 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports
Nearest
Alameda County, 30 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 237 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.1 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 2,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.7122, -122.2487. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alameda County, CA 30 km (19 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Alameda County
San Mateo County, CA 35 km (22 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Mateo County
Contra Costa County, CA 35 km (22 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County
Marin County, CA 58 km (36 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Marin County
Solano County, CA 67 km (42 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Solano County
San Francisco County, CA 69 km (43 mi) E 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

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

  1. 1.5 4 km WSW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  2. 2.1 8 km WNW of San Francisco Zoo, CA
  3. 1.7 5 km E of Vallejo, CA
  4. 1.6 2 km N of Livermore, CA
  5. 1.7 1 km NNW of Orinda, CA
  6. 1.8 1 km NNW of Orinda, CA
  7. 1.7 7 km SSW of Muir Beach, CA
  8. 1.6 6 km ENE of Vallejo, CA
  9. 2.1 3 km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  10. 2.2 7 km SSW of Muir Beach, CA
  11. 1.8 10 km ENE of Blackhawk, CA
  12. 1.8 10 km SSW of Brentwood, CA
  13. 1.9 3 km ESE of Berkeley, CA
  14. 1.5 6 km E of Walnut Creek, CA
  15. 3.2 3 km ESE 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 21,000 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.