QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

3 km SSE of Avenal, California

· 18 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 29 kmSan Luis Obispo County 72 kmFresno County 96 kmMonterey County 112 kmSan Benito County 112 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 29 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3516 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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.

Where

Epicentre 35.9757, -120.1117. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 29 km (18 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 72 km (45 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 96 km (60 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 112 km (70 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 112 km (70 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Tulare County, CA 123 km (76 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Tulare County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  2. 1.5 11 km NW of Avenal, California
  3. 2.5 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  4. 2.8 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  5. 1.6 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  6. 1.5 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  7. 1.5 12 km ESE of Coalinga, California
  8. 1.6 12 km SW of Huron, California
  9. 2.6 12 km NW of Avenal, California
  10. 3.3 13 km NW of Avenal, California
  11. 1.5 13 km SSW of Kettleman City, California
  12. 2.3 15 km SSE of Avenal, California
  13. 1.9 15 km SSE of Avenal, California
  14. 1.8 Central California
  15. 1.9 15 km SSE of Avenal, California

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

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