QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.7mw

6km SE of Oildale, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 4.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 22 kmTulare County 95 kmKings County 108 kmVentura County 115 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 3.7 (mw)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
1359 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Kern County, 22 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2225 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1359 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 4.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 36,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.7 about 4.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 9.8× 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.

Where

Epicentre 35.3850, -118.9645. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 22 km (14 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 95 km (59 mi) S of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Kings County, CA 108 km (67 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kings County
Ventura County, CA 115 km (72 mi) N of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Santa Barbara County, CA 136 km (84 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 6km S of Lamont, CA
  2. 1.7 15km S of Arvin, CA
  3. 2.5 14km S of Arvin, CA
  4. 2.9 14km S of Arvin, CA
  5. 2.3 15km S of Arvin, CA
  6. 1.7 14km S of Arvin, CA
  7. 2.1 14km S of Arvin, CA
  8. 3.1 14km S of Arvin, CA
  9. 2.0 10km SSW of Arvin, CA
  10. 2.3 10km SSW of Arvin, CA
  11. 1.8 24km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  12. 1.6 21km S of Bodfish, CA
  13. 1.6 24km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  14. 1.9 8km SSW of Buttonwillow, CA
  15. 2.7 10km WNW of Grapevine, 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 65 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.