QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

16km NW of Tehachapi, CA

· 6.1 km deep · released about 13 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 19 kmVentura County 108 kmTulare County 113 kmLos Angeles County 118 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
6.1 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Kern County, 19 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1827 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 75× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 35.2218, -118.5897. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 19 km (12 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Ventura County, CA 108 km (67 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Tulare County, CA 113 km (70 mi) S of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Los Angeles County, CA 118 km (73 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Kings County, CA 146 km (91 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5km S of Mojave, CA
  2. 1.6 22km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  3. 1.6 25km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
  4. 2.5 18km NE of Lebec, CA
  5. 1.9 18km E of Grapevine, CA
  6. 1.7 4km SE of Bodfish, CA
  7. 2.0 14km E of Arvin, CA
  8. 1.6 7km SSW of Mojave, CA
  9. 1.7 28km NW of California City, CA
  10. 1.6 13km SE of Bodfish, CA
  11. 1.8 14km E of Arvin, CA
  12. 2.1 11km SSE of Bodfish, CA
  13. 1.7 6km S of Mojave, CA
  14. 1.6 17km NW of Grapevine, CA
  15. 2.4 13km SE of Bodfish, 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 4.0 on 2021-08-27 — it released about 2,400 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.