Earthquake near Kettleman City, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Kettleman City, 9 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: Avenal, Huron, Stratford, Lemoore Station.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.6 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 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 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 32 km WNW of this epicentre May 2, 1983
2. 6.5 1922 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 42 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 10, 1922
3. 6.4 1901 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 45 km W of this epicentre Mar 3, 1901
4. 6.0 2004 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 43 km SW of this epicentre Sep 28, 2004
5. 5.6 8 km SW of Huron, California · 15 km WNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1985

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 36.0757, -120.0085. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.6 13km N of Coalinga, CA 05:27 UTC
2. 1.7 11km ENE of Coalinga, CA 10:52 UTC
3. 1.8 10km W of Huron, CA 10:18 UTC
4. 1.7 12km ENE of Coalinga, CA 09:56 UTC
5. 1.7 12km ENE of Coalinga, CA 17:59 UTC
6. 2.1 5km SSE of Avenal, CA 12:06 UTC
7. 1.6 11km SW of Huron, CA 02:00 UTC
8. 1.6 5km ESE of Avenal, CA 04:36 UTC
9. 2.3 13km ESE of Coalinga, CA 08:15 UTC
10. 2.2 12km ESE of Coalinga, CA 08:06 UTC
11. 1.8 8km NNE of Kettleman City, CA 23:19 UTC
12. 2.1 9km NE of Avenal, CA 08:12 UTC
13. 1.9 6km NNE of Avenal, CA 06:49 UTC
14. 2.1 18km WSW of Corcoran, CA 15:35 UTC
15. 1.9 12km SE of Coalinga, CA 16:16 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:43 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.