Earthquake near Kettleman City, CA

A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 11 km (7 mi) E of Kettleman City, CA, at 2:09 pm PDT on 5 June 2016 (21:09 UTC). This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Stratford, Avenal, Corcoran.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 510 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 30,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 21,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.9× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 510 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.5 1922 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 46 km SW of this epicentre Mar 10, 1922
2. 5.6 8 km SW of Huron, California · 33 km WNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1985
3. 5.5 1966 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 47 km WSW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1966
4. 5.5 11 km NNE of Coalinga, California · 49 km WNW of this epicentre May 2, 1983
5. 5.5 11 km NE of Coalinga, California · 47 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 9, 1983

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 35.9890, -119.8382. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.6 1 km W of Huron, California 13:00 UTC
2. 1.7 12 km SW of Huron, California 06:12 UTC
3. 2.3 12 km NNE of Coalinga, California 04:31 UTC
4. 1.5 10 km SW of Huron, California 14:38 UTC
5. 1.9 5 km SSE of Huron, California 02:42 UTC
6. 1.7 9 km SSW of Huron, California 11:11 UTC
7. 2.4 6 km S of Matheny, California 00:49 UTC
8. 1.8 11 km NE of Avenal, California 11:41 UTC
9. 1.8 7 km NE of Avenal, California 11:47 UTC
10. 2.6 7 km NNE of Avenal, California 10:48 UTC
11. 2.2 7 km NNE of Avenal, California 09:48 UTC
12. 3.2 6 km NNE of Avenal, California 09:41 UTC
13. 1.9 12 km NE of Shandon, California 09:58 UTC
14. 1.5 11 km NNW of Avenal, California 15:10 UTC
15. 1.9 23 km SE of Kettleman City, California 14:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 02:52 UTC. 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.