Earthquake near Bodfish, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 63 km (39 mi) from the epicentre. In Bodfish, 21 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Bodfish 21 km, intensity III · Wofford Heights 29 km, intensity II · Tehachapi 42 km, intensity II · California City 49 km, intensity II · Mojave 50 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 63,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.7 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.6× 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.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 39 km NE of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
2. 5.7 12km NW of California City, California · 37 km SSE of this epicentre Jul 11, 1992
3. 5.6 19km N of Tehachapi, CA · 26 km SW of this epicentre Jul 25, 1952
4. 5.6 14km NNW of Tehachapi, CA · 33 km SW of this epicentre Jul 31, 1952
5. 5.5 22km N of Tehachapi, CA · 24 km SW of this epicentre Jul 25, 1952

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 35.4887, -118.2883. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.5 13km SE of Bodfish, CA 04:58 UTC
2. 1.9 24km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 23:15 UTC
3. 1.6 19km NW of Tehachapi, CA 21:02 UTC
4. 1.7 20km NE of Kernville, CA 16:17 UTC
5. 1.7 12km SE of Bodfish, CA 01:54 UTC
6. 1.6 24km SSW of Little Lake, CA 18:58 UTC
7. 1.8 11km ESE of Lake Isabella, CA 05:04 UTC
8. 1.8 17km W of Johannesburg, CA 20:54 UTC
9. 1.5 23km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 15:45 UTC
10. 1.7 17km SE of Bodfish, CA 21:37 UTC
11. 1.8 17km SE of Bodfish, CA 15:32 UTC
12. 2.8 14km SE of Bodfish, CA 10:14 UTC
13. 1.5 11km NW of Mojave, CA 14:17 UTC
14. 1.5 12km WNW of Wofford Heights, CA 21:31 UTC
15. 1.5 24km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 16:36 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:52 UTC. 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.