QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

7km WNW of McFarland, CA

· 18 km deep · released about 420 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 62 kmKern County 65 kmTulare County 74 kmSan Luis Obispo County 110 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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Kings County, 62 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3154 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 420 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 36,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 26,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 420 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 35.7100, -119.2938. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 62 km (38 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kings County
Kern County, CA 65 km (40 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 74 km (46 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Tulare County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 110 km (69 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 121 km (75 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.7 6km SE of Oildale, CA
  2. 1.5 4km NNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  3. 1.6 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  4. 1.7 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  5. 1.9 29km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  6. 2.4 4km WSW of McFarland, CA
  7. 1.9 24km NW of Buttonwillow, CA
  8. 1.7 31 km W of Wasco, CA
  9. 2.2 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
  10. 3.2 2km NNE of Oildale, CA
  11. 1.8 9km W of Delano, CA
  12. 1.9 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
  13. 2.4 7km WSW of Shafter, CA
  14. 1.8 25km W of Alpaugh, CA
  15. 2.7 6km WSW of Shafter, 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 4.9 on 2016-02-24 — it released about 1,500 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.