Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Kernville, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Kernville in the 24 hours to 1:10 am PST (09:10 UTC). The last one was M 2.4, 11 km (7 mi) NE, at 9:35 am PDT on 21 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 2 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Kernville
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 49 km (30 mi) northeast of Kernville, CA, at 11:21 am PDT on 28 July 2019 (18:21 UTC), less than 1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 15km WNW of Coso Junction, CA
- When
- 11:21 am PDT on 28 July 2019 ()
- Where
- 49 km (30 mi) northeast of Kernville, CA · earthquakes near Kernville
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Tulare County, 63 km WNW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Southern Sierra Nevada fault, 10 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2665 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Kernville, CA
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Alerts are on for .
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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Kernville, 49 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 5.5 on 2019-07-06 — about 810,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 47 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 45 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.3 27km E of Coso Junction, California · 40 km E of this epicentre
- 5.2 15km NNE of Inyokern, CA · 46 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.2 28km E of Coso Junction, California · 41 km E 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 36.1048, -118.0950. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tulare County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Inyo County, CA | 80 km (50 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Kern County, CA | 102 km (63 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
47 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.1 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 2.7 22km E of Little Lake, CA
- 1.7 17km E of Little Lake, CA
- 2.1 8km ENE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.8 10km SW of Olancha, CA
- 2.1 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.7 18km E of Little Lake, CA
- 2.0 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.6 6km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.8 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.0 14km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.9 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.6 20km E of Little Lake, CA
- 1.5 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.6 10km E of Olancha, 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.