Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.1md
Earthquake near Kettleman City, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Kettleman City in the 24 hours to 10:23 am PST (18:23 UTC). The last one was M 2.0, 13 km (8 mi) S, at 5:43 pm PST on 3 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Kettleman City
This page: a magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 7 km (4 mi) east-southeast of Kettleman City, CA, at 4:56 pm PDT on 31 March 2021 (23:56 UTC), 24 km deep.
USGS: 7km ESE of Kettleman City, CA
89 km (56 mi) S of Fresno, CA · 44 km (27 mi) SSW of Hanford, CA
- When
- 4:56 pm PDT on 31 March 2021 ()
- Where
- 7 km (4 mi) east-southeast of Kettleman City, CA · earthquakes near Kettleman City
- Magnitude
- M 2.1 (md)
- Depth
- 24 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kings County, 12 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Great Valley thrust fault system, 4 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2047 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Kettleman City, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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, 7 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, Stratford.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 49 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — about 1,700 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 47 km NW of this epicentre
- 6.5 1922 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 41 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.0 2004 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 47 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.6 8 km SW of Huron, California · 30 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.5 1966 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 42 km WSW of this epicentre
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 35.9830, -119.8908. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kings County, CA | 12 km (7 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Kings County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 83 km (52 mi) | SW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Fresno County, CA | 89 km (55 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Fresno County |
| Tulare County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Kern County, CA | 127 km (79 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Kern County |
| San Benito County, CA | 128 km (79 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near San Benito County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 7km NE of Coalinga, CA
- 1.7 20km ESE of Kettleman City, CA
- 2.4 13km ESE of Kettleman City, CA
- 1.9 6km SSW of Huron, CA
- 3.4 7km NE of Coalinga, CA
- 2.8 8km NE of Coalinga, CA
- 2.3 13km ESE of Kettleman City, CA
- 2.9 9km SE of Kettleman City, CA
- 1.5 13km NE of Coalinga, CA
- 1.6 6km NNW of Cholame, CA
- 2.4 7km NW of Lemoore, CA
- 1.5 10km SE of Avenal, CA
- 1.6 6km WSW of Kettleman City, CA
- 3.2 4km NNW of Cholame, CA
- 2.8 10km W 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.
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.