QuakeIndex

explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

5 km WSW of Cotati, CA

· -0.1 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Marin County 27 kmSonoma County 30 kmNapa County 44 kmSan Francisco County 68 kmSolano County 71 kmContra Costa County 82 kmYolo County 86 kmLake County 90 kmAlameda County 103 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
-0.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Marin County, 27 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 552 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 38.2957, -122.7558. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Marin County, CA 27 km (17 mi) N of here earthquakes near Marin County
Sonoma County, CA 30 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 44 km (27 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Napa County
San Francisco County, CA 68 km (42 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Francisco County
Solano County, CA 71 km (44 mi) W of here earthquakes near Solano County
Contra Costa County, CA 82 km (51 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Contra Costa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 7 km ESE of Black Point-Green Point, CA
  2. 2.1 5 km E of Santa Rosa, CA
  3. 2.0 4 km ENE of Windsor, CA
  4. 1.9 4 km SSW of Anderson Springs, CA
  5. 1.7 7 km W of Temelec, CA
  6. 2.7 7 km SSW of Yountville, CA
  7. 1.5 1 km SW of Vallejo, CA
  8. 1.5 8 km W of Cotati, CA
  9. 2.0 5 km NE of Windsor, CA
  10. 1.8 6 km E of Santa Rosa, CA
  11. 1.6 4 km NNE of Larkfield-Wikiup, CA
  12. 1.9 6 km E of Santa Rosa, CA
  13. 1.6 12 km SE of Middletown, CA
  14. 2.2 4 km N of Larkfield-Wikiup, CA
  15. 1.5 13 km SE of Middletown, 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 4.4 on 2022-09-14 — it released about 19,000 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.