Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.1ml
Earthquake near Buttonwillow, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Buttonwillow in the 24 hours to 7:47 am PST (15:47 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 82 km (51 mi) SE, at 3:38 am PDT on 12 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 798 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Buttonwillow
This page: a magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Buttonwillow, CA, at 5:23 pm PST on 21 December 2018 (01:23 UTC), 4.3 km deep.
USGS: 16km SW of Buttonwillow, CA
51 km (32 mi) W of Bakersfield, CA
- When
- 5:23 pm PST on 21 December 2018 ()
- Where
- 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Buttonwillow, CA · earthquakes near Buttonwillow
- Magnitude
- M 2.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 78 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- San Andreas fault, 22 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2871 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Buttonwillow, CA
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Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 16 km (10 mi) from the epicentre. In Buttonwillow, 16 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Ford City, Taft Heights, Taft, South Taft.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 38 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 390,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 280,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 25× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.1 about 38 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 4.9 on 2016-02-24 — about 16,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 21km SW of Lamont, California · 47 km ESE 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 35.2918, -119.5918. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 78 km (49 mi) | E | earthquakes near Kern County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 78 km (49 mi) | W | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kings County, CA | 89 km (55 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 93 km (58 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 112 km (70 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| Tulare County, CA | 127 km (79 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Tulare County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
38 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 10km WSW of Shafter, CA
- 1.6 29km WSW of Maricopa, CA
- 2.6 6km SW of Shafter, CA
- 2.5 10km SSW of Maricopa, CA
- 2.1 11km SSW of Maricopa, CA
- 1.9 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
- 1.6 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
- 2.3 17km NE of Taft, CA
- 1.7 3km ENE of Buttonwillow, CA
- 1.6 10km ESE of Simmler, CA
- 2.1 25km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 2.1 24km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.8 25km E of Maricopa, CA
- 1.8 6km SSW of Buttonwillow, CA
- 1.7 29km WSW of Maricopa, 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
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.