QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

24km S of Kettleman City, CA

· 15 km deep · released about 37 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 34 kmSan Luis Obispo County 62 kmFresno County 111 kmTulare County 119 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 34 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1612 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 37 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 410,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 290,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 26× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 37 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 35.7975, -119.9877. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 34 km (21 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 62 km (38 mi) NE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 111 km (69 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Tulare County, CA 119 km (74 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Kern County, CA 124 km (77 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Kern County
Monterey County, CA 129 km (80 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

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

  1. 1.7 26km E of Cholame, CA
  2. 2.1 26km S of Kettleman City, CA
  3. 1.7 12km SE of Kettleman City, CA
  4. 1.8 29km ESE of Cholame, CA
  5. 1.7 11km N of Avenal, CA
  6. 2.2 7km NW of Parkfield, CA
  7. 1.7 6km SSW of Huron, CA
  8. 1.7 10km NNW of Avenal, CA
  9. 1.5 9km NNW of Avenal, CA
  10. 2.8 9km ESE of Kettleman City, CA
  11. 2.1 10km NNW of Cholame, CA
  12. 1.7 5km E of Avenal, CA
  13. 1.8 20km SSE of Kettleman City, CA
  14. 2.2 5km NW of Parkfield, CA
  15. 1.5 12km SE 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 2,200 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.