QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3mw

11 km S of Bodfish, CA

· 3.2 km deep · released about 46 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 25 kmTulare County 85 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 4.3 (mw)
Depth
3.2 km below the surface
Felt
814 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Kern County, 25 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 176 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 814 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 3,700× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 46 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 95× 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 35.4930, -118.5130. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kern County, CA 25 km (16 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 85 km (53 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Kings County, CA 134 km (83 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Kings County
Inyo County, CA 155 km (96 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Inyo County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 11 km SSW of Bodfish, CA
  2. 1.6 12 km NW of Kernville, CA
  3. 1.6 4 km SE of Kernville, CA
  4. 2.0 9 km SE of Bodfish, CA
  5. 2.1 22 km NE of Arvin, CA
  6. 1.6 20 km SE of Arvin, CA
  7. 1.6 11 km SSW of Bodfish, CA
  8. 1.6 11 km S of Bodfish, CA
  9. 1.6 20 km SE of Arvin, CA
  10. 2.2 21 km ESE of Bodfish, CA
  11. 1.5 23 km S of Bodfish, CA
  12. 1.9 4 km N of Lake Isabella, CA
  13. 1.6 20 km SSE of Bodfish, CA
  14. 1.9 6 km ESE of Wofford Heights, CA
  15. 1.6 7 km ENE of Lake Isabella, 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.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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