Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Maricopa, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Maricopa in the 24 hours to 8:04 am PST (16:04 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 51 km (32 mi) ESE, at 3:38 am PDT on 12 July 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 798 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Maricopa
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 19 km (12 mi) east-northeast of Maricopa, CA, at 8:25 pm PDT on 14 October 2021 (03:25 UTC), 22 km deep.
USGS: 19km ENE of Maricopa, CA
28 km (17 mi) SW of Bakersfield, CA · 146 km (90 mi) NNW of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 8:25 pm PDT on 14 October 2021 ()
- Where
- 19 km (12 mi) east-northeast of Maricopa, CA · earthquakes near Maricopa
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 22 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 49 km ENE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Wheeler Ridge fault, 17 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 1854 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Maricopa, CA
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Alerts are on for .
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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Maricopa, 19 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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: Ford City, Taft, South Taft, Taft Heights, Rosedale, Greenacres.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 75,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.5 The 1952 Kern County, California Earthquake · 29 km SE of this epicentre
- 6.0 Tejon Pass, California · 40 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 41 km ENE of this epicentre
- 5.8 13km WNW of Grapevine, CA · 24 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.7 11km N of Lamont, CA · 37 km NE 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 35.1478, -119.2172. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 49 km (31 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Ventura County, CA | 88 km (55 mi) | S | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 101 km (63 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 115 km (71 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kings County, CA | 116 km (72 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 137 km (85 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 24km E of Maricopa, CA
- 1.5 3km WNW of Gorman, CA
- 2.2 4km NNW of Frazier Park, CA
- 3.1 19km SSW of Lamont, CA
- 3.1 11km SW of Lamont, CA
- 2.3 14km SSE of Buttonwillow, CA
- 2.1 4km S of Frazier Park, CA
- 2.6 8km WSW of Grapevine, CA
- 3.3 17km SSE of Maricopa, CA
- 1.8 11km NNW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.5 25km SW of Maricopa, CA
- 1.5 9km WSW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.6 2km SSE of Frazier Park, CA
- 1.8 8km WSW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.9 22km SW of Maricopa, 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.