QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.9ml

15km SSE of Buttonwillow, CA

· 18 km deep · released about 11 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 60 kmKings County 96 kmSan Luis Obispo County 97 kmSanta Barbara County 102 kmVentura County 106 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 3.9 (ml)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
133 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Kern County, 60 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1660 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 133 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 15,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 660× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 470× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.9 about 11 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 24× 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.

Where

Epicentre 35.2840, -119.3907. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 60 km (38 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kern County
Kings County, CA 96 km (59 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 97 km (60 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Santa Barbara County, CA 102 km (63 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Ventura County, CA 106 km (66 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

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

  1. 1.8 12km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  2. 1.9 12km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  3. 2.7 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  4. 1.8 12km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  5. 1.9 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  6. 1.6 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  7. 1.8 11km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  8. 1.6 14km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  9. 1.5 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  10. 2.0 14km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  11. 3.7 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  12. 1.8 6km NW of Pine Mountain Club, CA
  13. 1.8 13km NNW of Grapevine, CA
  14. 1.7 12km NW of Grapevine, CA
  15. 1.7 12km NW 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 27 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.