QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

4km WNW of Kettleman City, CA

· -0.6 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 18 kmSan Luis Obispo County 81 kmFresno County 88 kmTulare County 112 kmSan Benito County 117 kmMonterey County 120 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
-0.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 18 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2197 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 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 36.0243, -120.0077. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 18 km (11 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 81 km (50 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 88 km (55 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Tulare County, CA 112 km (70 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Tulare County
San Benito County, CA 117 km (72 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 120 km (74 mi) E of here earthquakes near Monterey County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 3km ENE of Coalinga, CA
  2. 1.8 1km SW of Kettleman City, CA
  3. 2.6 8km NE of Coalinga, CA
  4. 2.5 2km N of Armona, CA
  5. 1.7 13km NNW of Avenal, CA
  6. 2.8 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.6 9km NW of Avenal, CA
  8. 2.1 15km SSE of Cantua Creek, CA
  9. 2.5 7km NW of Avenal, CA
  10. 1.6 9km NNW of Avenal, CA
  11. 1.6 12km NNW of Avenal, CA
  12. 1.6 13km NNW of Avenal, CA
  13. 1.5 12km E of Coalinga, CA
  14. 1.7 15km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 1.6 12km NNW of Avenal, 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 5,100 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.