Earthquake near Bodfish, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 52 km (32 mi) from the epicentre. In Bodfish, 22 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Bodfish 22 km, intensity III · Tehachapi 30 km, intensity II · Arvin 33 km, intensity II · Wofford Heights 36 km, intensity II · Lamont 37 km, intensity II · Bakersfield 43 km, intensity II · Oildale 43 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 25 km WSW of this epicentre Dec 23, 1905
2. 5.7 11km N of Lamont, CA · 32 km W of this epicentre Jul 29, 1952
3. 5.7 12km NW of California City, California · 48 km ESE of this epicentre Jul 11, 1992
4. 5.6 19km N of Tehachapi, CA · 12 km SE of this epicentre Jul 25, 1952
5. 5.6 14km NNW of Tehachapi, CA · 16 km SSE of this epicentre Jul 31, 1952

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 35.3910, -118.5448. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 17km NNW of Mojave, CA 21:34 UTC
2. 1.7 17km NNW of Mojave, CA 21:23 UTC
3. 1.9 17km NW of Tehachapi, CA 15:31 UTC
4. 2.2 26km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 01:43 UTC
5. 1.6 21km N of Neenach, CA 15:14 UTC
6. 2.2 17km SE of Bodfish, CA 06:40 UTC
7. 1.6 15km E of Oildale, CA 05:29 UTC
8. 1.7 16km E of Oildale, CA 03:20 UTC
9. 3.5 16km E of Oildale, CA 02:41 UTC
10. 1.6 22km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 18:06 UTC
11. 1.8 11km SSE of Bodfish, CA 06:13 UTC
12. 1.9 25km SW of Bodfish, CA 02:45 UTC
13. 1.6 18km W of Tehachapi, CA 05:37 UTC
14. 1.7 7km ESE of Lake Isabella, CA 23:27 UTC
15. 1.7 11km E of Lake Isabella, CA 13:43 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:43 UTC. 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.