Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Oildale, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Oildale in the 24 hours to 8:40 am PST (16:40 UTC). The last one was M 4.3, 110 km (68 mi) E, at 9:40 am PDT on 13 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Oildale
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 23 km (14 mi) northeast of Oildale, CA, at 5:08 pm PDT on 31 August 2019 (00:08 UTC), 7.5 km deep.
USGS: 23km NE of Oildale, CA
30 km (18 mi) NE of Bakersfield, CA
- When
- 5:08 pm PDT on 31 August 2019 ()
- Where
- 23 km (14 mi) northeast of Oildale, CA · earthquakes near Oildale
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 27 km SSE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Kern Front fault, 18 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 2627 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Oildale, 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 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Oildale, 23 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: Bakersfield.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 110,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 30 km S of this epicentre
- 5.7 11km N of Lamont, CA · 24 km S of this epicentre
- 5.6 19km N of Tehachapi, CA · 46 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.6 14km NNW of Tehachapi, CA · 48 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.5 6km SSE of Arvin, CA · 45 km S 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 35.5710, -118.8498. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 27 km (17 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Tulare County, CA | 73 km (46 mi) | N | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Kings County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 158 km (98 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
50 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 20km N of Tehachapi, CA
- 1.6 13km SE of Bodfish, CA
- 2.0 3km SW of Bodfish, CA
- 1.7 23km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
- 1.6 5km ESE of Bodfish, CA
- 1.9 17km ESE of Bodfish, CA
- 2.0 22km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
- 2.2 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
- 2.5 23km NE of Arvin, CA
- 1.5 17km ESE of Bodfish, CA
- 1.7 25km SSW of Bodfish, CA
- 3.2 2km NNE of Oildale, CA
- 1.6 13km SE of Bodfish, CA
- 1.9 6km WSW of Shafter, CA
- 2.4 7km WSW of Shafter, 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.