QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

21km SSW of Tehachapi, CA

· 8.6 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 48 kmVentura County 87 kmLos Angeles County 87 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
8.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kern County, 48 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3694 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 34.9545, -118.5135. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 48 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Ventura County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Los Angeles County, CA 87 km (54 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 9km NNE of Castaic, CA
  2. 1.9 18km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  3. 1.7 10km NE of Grapevine, CA
  4. 1.5 8km N of Mojave, CA
  5. 1.7 17km NW of Tehachapi, CA
  6. 2.0 17km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  7. 1.6 3km N of Frazier Park, CA
  8. 1.6 21km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  9. 1.6 10km NW of Grapevine, CA
  10. 1.5 13km NE of Arvin, CA
  11. 1.6 8km N of Lancaster, CA
  12. 1.5 5km SE of Mojave, CA
  13. 1.7 21km SSW of Bodfish, CA
  14. 1.7 8km N of Mojave, CA
  15. 2.8 8km N of Mojave, 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.

On USGS

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