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M2.6 earthquake 21 km ESE of East Foothills, California, United States

A magnitude 2.6 earthquake struck 21 km ESE of East Foothills, California, United States at 20:07 local time (03:07 UTC) on 16 Sept 2026, at a depth of 7 km, according to USGS.

revised from M2.6 · 6 reports to USGS “Did You Feel It?”

Data: USGS · updated 2026-09-28 20:07 UTC · reviewed

Magnitude
2.6micro
duration magnitude (md)
revised from 2.6
Depth
6.6 km
Status
Reviewed
Origin time
2026-09-17 03:07:43 UTC
Local: 16 Sept 2026, 20:07:43 (America/Los Angeles)
Epicentre
37.335° N, 121.594° W

Circles show this event and others within 30 km from 7 days before to 30 days after. Lines: plate boundaries and GEM active faults. Open on the live map

Nearby places

Distance and estimated shaking at nearby places
PlaceDistanceEst. shaking
East FoothillsCalifornia, United States · pop. 8,26921 kmINot felt
Morgan HillCalifornia, United States · pop. 42,94823 kmINot felt
San JoseCalifornia, United States · pop. 997,36826 kmINot felt
MilpitasCalifornia, United States · pop. 77,60430 kmINot felt
CampbellCalifornia, United States · pop. 41,11732 kmINot felt
StocktonCalifornia, United States · pop. 305,65875 kmINot felt
OaklandCalifornia, United States · pop. 419,26779 kmINot felt
San FranciscoCalifornia, United States · pop. 827,52687 kmINot felt

Shaking is an estimate from the intensity prediction equation of Allen, Wald & Worden (2012), not an observation. Local ground and buildings can change it by a level or more. Likely felt out to about 8 km.

Every agency's solution

Agencies locate earthquakes with their own stations and methods, so their numbers differ. We match reports of the same event by time, distance and magnitude and show them side by side. The headline uses USGS · NC, which has been reviewed by an analyst.

AgencyMagnitudeDepthEpicentreTime offsetStatus
USGS · NCheadlineNorthern California Seismic System via U.S. Geological Survey2.6 mdwas 2.66.6 km37.33° N, 121.59° W–Reviewed · 1 revision

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How big was it?

Usually not felt. Recorded by nearby seismometers; thousands occur worldwide every day.

It released roughly the energy of 104 kg of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step means about 32 times more energy and 10 times larger waves on a seismogram. Depth matters too: at 7 km this was a shallow earthquake, which is felt more strongly at the surface than a deeper one of the same size.

M2.6 releases about 28× the energy of M1.6, and its waves are about 9.1× taller on a seismogram. Energy: 104 kg of TNT vs 4 kg of TNT.

Each square is the energy of one M1.6. Energy from log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8.

Aftershocks and nearby activity

13 later earthquakes within 30 km; the largest was M3.3 1 day ago. Aftershock rates usually fall off roughly in proportion to 1/time.

Aftershocks

Mainshock M2.6

13 later earthquakes nearby. Aftershock rates typically fall off roughly as 1/time (Omori's law).

Aftershocks
Time after mainshock (hours)MagnitudeDepth (km)
55.742.53
117.651.52
124.940.96
251.243.33
251.411.35
251.552.63
252.661.45
252.981.74
253.660.88
254.921.34
258.031.25
265.692.16
265.701.44
  1. 3.329 km WSW of Patterson, California, United States09-27 14:21
  2. 2.629 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-27 14:40
  3. 2.510 km N of East Foothills, California, United States09-19 10:52
  4. 2.110 km NNE of East Foothills, California, United States09-28 04:49
  5. 1.729 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-27 16:06
  6. 1.58 km ESE of East Foothills, California, United States09-22 00:46
  7. 1.429 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-27 15:47
  8. 1.429 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-28 04:49
  9. 1.329 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-27 14:32
  10. 1.329 km W of Patterson, California, United States09-27 18:03
  11. 1.229 km WSW of Patterson, California, United States09-27 21:09
  12. 0.919 km NE of East Foothills, California, United States09-22 08:03
  13. 0.810 km ESE of East Foothills, California, United States09-27 16:47

Did you feel it?

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Reports on SeismoAtlas

No reports yet.

USGS “Did You Feel It?” has 6 reports: add yours at USGS.

Event id nc75437042. First recorded here 28 Sept 2026, 17:32:11 UTC. Solutions: USGS · NC (usgs:nc75437042). Cite as: SeismoAtlas, “M2.6 earthquake 21 km ESE of East Foothills, California, United States”, https://seismoatlas.com/earthquake/nc75437042-m2-6-earthquake-21-km-ese-of-east-foothills-california-united-states, data from USGS.

JSON: /api/v1/events/nc75437042. SeismoAtlas is not an official warning service.