Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Buttonwillow, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Buttonwillow in the 24 hours to 9:08 am PST (17:08 UTC). The last one was M 4.1, 82 km (51 mi) SE, at 3:38 am PDT on 12 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 798 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Buttonwillow
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) west-southwest of Buttonwillow, CA, at 12:00 pm PDT on 16 August 2023 (19:00 UTC), 24 km deep.
USGS: 5 km WSW of Buttonwillow, CA
44 km (27 mi) W of Bakersfield, CA
- When
- 12:00 pm PDT on 16 August 2023 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) west-southwest of Buttonwillow, CA · earthquakes near Buttonwillow
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 24 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 72 km E
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1184 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Buttonwillow, CA
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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 Buttonwillow, 5 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: Ford City, Shafter, Taft, Taft Heights, South Taft, Wasco.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 8.7 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 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 70,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 21km SW of Lamont, California · 46 km SE 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 35.3815, -119.5240. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 72 km (45 mi) | E | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Kings County, CA | 81 km (50 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Kings County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 84 km (52 mi) | W | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 105 km (65 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Tulare County, CA | 116 km (72 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Ventura County, CA | 119 km (74 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Ventura County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
37 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.4 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.8 24 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.8 25 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.5 23 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 2.1 23 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.6 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.9 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 2.4 24 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.6 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.9 24 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.8 23 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 2.3 23 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 3.4 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 2.8 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 2.4 24 km SW of Lamont, 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.