QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

10km N of Avenal, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 19 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 30 kmSan Luis Obispo County 83 kmFresno County 87 kmSan Benito County 102 kmMonterey County 106 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 30 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1515 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 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 810,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 580,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 51× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 36.0918, -120.1482. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 30 km (19 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 83 km (51 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 87 km (54 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 106 km (66 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

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

  1. 4.0 9km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  2. 2.4 10km NW of Avenal, CA
  3. 2.8 10km SW of Kettleman City, CA
  4. 2.1 9km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  5. 2.1 9km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  6. 1.6 2km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  7. 2.1 9km NNW of Avenal, CA
  8. 2.4 3km SSE of Parkfield, CA
  9. 1.7 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  10. 2.5 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  11. 1.9 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.7 14km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 2.2 15km NW of Coalinga, CA
  14. 1.7 19km S of New Idria, CA
  15. 1.9 24km WSW 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 4,400 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.