QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9ml

8km SSW of Buttonwillow, CA

· 23 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 70 kmSan Luis Obispo County 87 kmKings County 88 kmSanta Barbara County 101 kmVentura County 113 kmTulare County 119 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 1.9 (ml)
Depth
23 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kern County, 70 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2147 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 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 35.3273, -119.4973. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 70 km (43 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kern County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 87 km (54 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 88 km (54 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kings County
Santa Barbara County, CA 101 km (63 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Ventura County, CA 113 km (70 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Tulare County, CA 119 km (74 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

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

  1. 1.8 19km E of Maricopa, CA
  2. 2.0 19km E of Maricopa, CA
  3. 1.8 8km ESE of Shafter, CA
  4. 3.0 15km SSE of Buttonwillow, CA
  5. 3.9 15km SSE of Buttonwillow, CA
  6. 1.6 17km NW of Grapevine, CA
  7. 1.9 19km NW of Grapevine, CA
  8. 1.6 13km SW of Lamont, CA
  9. 1.6 14km SW of Taft, CA
  10. 1.6 22km WNW of Buttonwillow, CA
  11. 1.6 19km NW of Grapevine, CA
  12. 1.6 16km SW of Buttonwillow, CA
  13. 1.6 19km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA
  14. 1.6 19km ENE of Maricopa, CA
  15. 1.7 18km 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 31,000 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.