QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.7mw

15km N of Simmler, CA

· 8.0 km deep · released about 5.2 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Luis Obispo County 40 kmKings County 68 kmSanta Barbara County 106 kmKern County 119 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 3.7 (mw)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
79 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
Nearest
San Luis Obispo County, 40 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2985 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 79 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 33,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.7 about 5.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 11× more

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 35.4872, -120.0265. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Luis Obispo County, CA 40 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 68 km (42 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Barbara County, CA 106 km (66 mi) N of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Kern County, CA 119 km (74 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 139 km (87 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Monterey County, CA 143 km (89 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 10km NNW of Cholame, CA
  2. 2.2 2km NE of Cholame, CA
  3. 2.9 10km NNW of Cholame, CA
  4. 1.9 16km S of Kettleman City, CA
  5. 1.5 15km SE of Shandon, CA
  6. 1.9 30km E of Cholame, CA
  7. 1.8 24km SE of Kettleman City, CA
  8. 1.8 23km SE of Kettleman City, CA
  9. 1.9 10km N of Simmler, CA
  10. 2.0 21km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  11. 1.9 21km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  12. 2.6 21km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  13. 1.9 21km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  14. 1.5 13km N of Simmler, CA
  15. 1.7 20km NNW of Simmler, 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.