QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3ml

17km NE of Taft, CA

· 26 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 55 kmVentura County 100 kmSanta Barbara County 102 kmKings County 102 kmSan Luis Obispo County 103 kmTulare County 120 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 2.3 (ml)
Depth
26 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Kern County, 55 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 711 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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 35.2438, -119.3220. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 55 km (34 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kern County
Ventura County, CA 100 km (62 mi) N of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Santa Barbara County, CA 102 km (64 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Kings County, CA 102 km (64 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 103 km (64 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Tulare County, CA 120 km (75 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Tulare County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 27km NE of Simmler, CA
  2. 2.6 27km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  3. 2.2 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  4. 2.6 28km NE of Simmler, CA
  5. 2.1 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  6. 2.4 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  7. 2.2 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  8. 2.3 28km NE of Simmler, CA
  9. 1.6 8km ESE of Oildale, CA
  10. 3.7 6km SE of Oildale, CA
  11. 1.6 13km SSW of Lamont, CA
  12. 1.6 22km SW of Maricopa, CA
  13. 1.5 4km NNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  14. 1.6 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  15. 1.7 28km WNW of Buttonwillow, 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 7,200 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.