QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4ml

8km NNW of Avenal, CA

· 7.9 km deep · released about 1.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 31 kmSan Luis Obispo County 81 kmFresno County 89 kmSan Benito County 102 kmMonterey County 105 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 3.4 (ml)
Depth
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Kings County, 31 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1457 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 99,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,100× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.6× more

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 36.0743, -120.1630. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 31 km (19 mi) W 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 89 km (55 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
San Benito County, CA 102 km (63 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA 105 km (65 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

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

  1. 1.7 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  2. 1.9 15km NW of Coalinga, CA
  3. 1.6 2km W of Avenal, CA
  4. 2.1 3km WSW of Avenal, CA
  5. 1.7 26km E of Cholame, CA
  6. 2.1 26km S of Kettleman City, CA
  7. 1.7 12km SE of Kettleman City, CA
  8. 1.6 14km NW of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.9 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 1.7 11km N of Avenal, CA
  11. 2.2 7km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.9 9km NW of Lemoore Station, CA
  13. 1.7 8km NE of Coalinga, CA
  14. 1.5 9km NE of Coalinga, CA
  15. 1.7 6km SSW of Huron, 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 24 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.