QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.4md

Earthquake near Petaluma, CA

USGS: 6 km WNW of Petaluma, CA

6 km (4 mi) WNW of Petaluma, CA · 58 km (36 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA

3:02 pm PDT, Oct 2, 2026 · · -0.7 km deep · released about 110 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Marin County 23 kmSonoma County 36 kmNapa County 43 kmSan Francisco County 65 kmSolano County 66 kmContra Costa County 75 kmYolo County 84 kmLake County 95 kmAlameda County 96 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
3:02 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 ()
Where
6 km (4 mi) WNW of Petaluma, CA · earthquakes near Petaluma
Magnitude
M 2.4 (md)
Depth
-0.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Marin County, 23 km S
Nearest mapped fault
Rodgers Creek fault, 12 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 hours ago

A magnitude 2.4 earthquake was recorded 6 km (4 mi) WNW of Petaluma, CA, at 3:02 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 (22:02 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Penngrove, Cotati, Rohnert Park, Temelec, El Verano, Eldridge.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 110 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 140,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 99,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 8.8× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 110 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 4.4 on 2022-09-14 — about 1,100 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.0 The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · 34 km E of this epicentre
  2. 5.3 3 km E of Bloomfield, California · 12 km NW of this epicentre
  3. 5.3 Northern California · 13 km NW of this epicentre

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 38.2533, -122.6977. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Marin County, CA 23 km (14 mi) S earthquakes near Marin County
Sonoma County, CA 36 km (22 mi) NNW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 43 km (27 mi) NE earthquakes near Napa County
San Francisco County, CA 65 km (41 mi) SSW earthquakes near San Francisco County
Solano County, CA 66 km (41 mi) E earthquakes near Solano County
Contra Costa County, CA 75 km (47 mi) ESE earthquakes near Contra Costa County

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.

On USGS

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