quarry blast · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Lebec, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Lebec in the 24 hours to 4:30 am PST (12:30 UTC). The last one was M 1.9, 9 km (5 mi) ENE, at 9:24 pm PST on 5 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Lebec
No: USGS classifies this as a quarry blast, not an earthquake. A magnitude 1.6 quarry blast was recorded 7 km (5 mi) east-northeast of Lebec, CA, at 12:01 pm PDT on 16 May 2024 (19:01 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
USGS: 7 km ENE of Lebec, CA
99 km (62 mi) NNW of Los Angeles, CA · 55 km (34 mi) NNW of Santa Clarita, CA
- When
- 12:01 pm PDT on 16 May 2024 ()
- Where
- 7 km (5 mi) east-northeast of Lebec, CA · earthquakes near Lebec
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- -1.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 55 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Garlock fault, 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 904 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Lebec, 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Lebec, 7 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: Frazier Park, Stallion Springs.
USGS catalogues this as quarry blast, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.4 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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 7,400 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 20 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.5 The 1952 Kern County, California Earthquake · 22 km WNW of this epicentre
- 6.0 Tejon Pass, California · 12 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 50 km N of this epicentre
- 5.8 13km WNW of Grapevine, CA · 29 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.5 Southwest of Tejon Pass, California · 26 km SW 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 34.8547, -118.7865. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 55 km (34 mi) | N | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Ventura County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 88 km (54 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 120 km (74 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.7 15 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 2.8 20 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 3.2 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 2.9 25 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 3.2 22 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 4.6 25 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 5.2 24 km SW of Lamont, CA
- 1.5 6 km S of Frazier Park, CA
- 1.8 20 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.9 25 km NE of Ojai, CA
- 1.6 20 km SE of Arvin, CA
- 2.3 25 km NW of Grapevine, CA
- 2.2 25 km SSW of Frazier Park, CA
- 1.7 10 km W of Grapevine, CA
- 2.1 13 km N of Castaic, 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.