QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

16km ESE of Arvin, CA

· 9.8 km deep · released about 13 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 21 kmVentura County 100 kmLos Angeles County 114 kmTulare County 118 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
9.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kern County, 21 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 706 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 75× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 35.1705, -118.6545. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 21 km (13 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Ventura County, CA 100 km (62 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Los Angeles County, CA 114 km (71 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Tulare County, CA 118 km (73 mi) S of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Kings County, CA 145 km (90 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 20km NW of Grapevine, CA
  2. 2.0 3km SW of Bodfish, CA
  3. 1.6 6km SSW of Mojave, CA
  4. 1.6 24km SE of Bodfish, CA
  5. 1.7 23km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  6. 1.6 5km ESE of Bodfish, CA
  7. 1.9 17km ESE of Bodfish, CA
  8. 1.6 7km S of Mojave, CA
  9. 1.6 21km ESE of Bodfish, CA
  10. 2.0 22km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  11. 2.0 8km NE of Grapevine, CA
  12. 2.3 8km NE of Grapevine, CA
  13. 2.5 23km NE of Arvin, CA
  14. 1.5 17km ESE of Bodfish, CA
  15. 2.8 13km W of Mojave, 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.