QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.2ml

Earthquake near Pine Mountain Club, CA

USGS: 19 km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA

39 km (24 mi) SSW of Bakersfield, CA · 129 km (80 mi) NNW of Los Angeles, CA

4:14 am PDT, Sep 28, 2026 · · 14 km deep · released about 1.8 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 53 kmVentura County 73 kmSanta Barbara County 98 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
4:14 am PDT on 28 September 2026 ()
Where
19 km (11 mi) N of Pine Mountain Club, CA · earthquakes near Pine Mountain Club
Magnitude
M 1.2 (ml)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kern County, 53 km NE
Nearest mapped fault
Wheeler Ridge 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 5 days ago

A magnitude 1.2 earthquake was recorded 19 km (11 mi) N of Pine Mountain Club, CA, at 4:14 am PDT on 28 September 2026 (11:14 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 540× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.2 about 1.8 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 5.2 on 2024-08-07 — about 1,100,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.5 The 1952 Kern County, California Earthquake · 14 km ESE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 Tejon Pass, California · 25 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 45 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.8 13km WNW of Grapevine, CA · 8 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 5.7 11km N of Lamont, CA · 44 km NNE 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 35.0127, -119.1412. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Kern County, CA 53 km (33 mi) NE earthquakes near Kern County
Ventura County, CA 73 km (45 mi) S earthquakes near Ventura County
Santa Barbara County, CA 98 km (61 mi) WSW earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Los Angeles County, CA 121 km (75 mi) SE earthquakes near Los Angeles County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 126 km (78 mi) WNW earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 133 km (82 mi) NNW earthquakes near Kings County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.1 24 km SW of Pine Mountain Club, CA
  2. 1.0 24 km SW of Pine Mountain Club, CA
  3. 1.1 24 km SW of Pine Mountain Club, CA
  4. 1.5 25 km SW of Maricopa, CA
  5. 1.0 14 km S of Maricopa, 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.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

What changedFromToWhen
review statusautomaticreviewed
location18 km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA19 km N of Pine Mountain Club, CA
longitude-119.14-119.14
latitude35.0135.01
depth13.6914.15
magnitude1.041.18
longitude-119.14-119.14
latitude35.0135.01
depth13.4913.69
magnitude1.31.04

On USGS

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