QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

8km E of Avenal, CA

· 5.5 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 22 kmSan Luis Obispo County 78 kmFresno County 91 kmSan Benito County 115 kmTulare County 116 kmMonterey County 117 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
5.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 22 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2348 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 10 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 1,500,000× 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 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 36.0057, -120.0457. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 22 km (14 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 78 km (48 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 91 km (57 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Benito County, CA 115 km (71 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Tulare County, CA 116 km (72 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Monterey County, CA 117 km (73 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey 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. 2.3 7km SSW of Riverdale, CA
  2. 1.7 10km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  3. 1.9 10km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  4. 1.8 11km NNE of Avenal, CA
  5. 2.6 8km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 2.5 15km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  7. 1.8 20km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.8 22km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  9. 1.7 16km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  10. 2.7 7km ESE of Huron, CA
  11. 2.1 8km NNW of Cholame, CA
  12. 1.8 2km E of Cholame, CA
  13. 2.5 17km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  14. 2.8 10km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 1.8 12km N of Coalinga, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 8,200 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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