QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

Earthquake near Pine Mountain Club, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Pine Mountain Club in the 24 hours to 5:40 am PST (13:40 UTC). The last one was M 3.8, 62 km (38 mi) SE, at 8:00 pm PDT on 29 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 199 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Pine Mountain Club

This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 11 km (7 mi) northwest of Pine Mountain Club, CA, at 11:55 am PST on 24 December 2021 (19:55 UTC), 1.3 km deep.

USGS: 11km NW of Pine Mountain Club, CA

50 km (31 mi) SSW of Bakersfield, CA · 126 km (78 mi) NW of Los Angeles, CA

11:55 am PST, Dec 24, 2021 · · 1.3 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ventura County 64 kmKern County 65 kmSanta Barbara County 86 kmLos Angeles County 120 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
11:55 am PST on 24 December 2021 ()
Where
11 km (7 mi) northwest of Pine Mountain Club, CA · earthquakes near Pine Mountain Club
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
1.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Ventura County, 64 km S
Nearest mapped fault
Pleito fault, under 1 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 1775 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Pine Mountain Club, 11 km away, the estimate is intensity II (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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Maricopa, Frazier Park.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 4.1 on 2016-03-12 — about 7,900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 18 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.5 The 1952 Kern County, California Earthquake · 21 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 Tejon Pass, California · 30 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 13km WNW of Grapevine, CA · 16 km ENE of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 Southwest of Tejon Pass, California · 33 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.5 13km ENE of Grapevine, CA · 39 km E 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 34.9267, -119.2265. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Ventura County, CA 64 km (40 mi) S earthquakes near Ventura County
Kern County, CA 65 km (40 mi) NE earthquakes near Kern County
Santa Barbara County, CA 86 km (53 mi) WSW earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Los Angeles County, CA 120 km (75 mi) SE earthquakes near Los Angeles County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 122 km (76 mi) WNW earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 3km WNW of Gorman, CA
  2. 2.2 4km NNW of Frazier Park, CA
  3. 3.1 19km SSW of Lamont, CA
  4. 3.1 11km SW of Lamont, CA
  5. 2.3 14km SSE of Buttonwillow, CA
  6. 2.1 4km S of Frazier Park, CA
  7. 2.6 8km WSW of Grapevine, CA
  8. 3.3 17km SSE of Maricopa, CA
  9. 1.8 11km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  10. 1.5 25km SW of Maricopa, CA
  11. 1.5 9km WSW of Grapevine, CA
  12. 1.6 2km SSE of Frazier Park, CA
  13. 1.8 8km WSW of Grapevine, CA
  14. 1.9 22km SW of Maricopa, CA
  15. 1.5 8km W 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.