QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

3km WSW of Avenal, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 51 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kings County 32 kmSan Luis Obispo County 73 kmFresno County 96 kmMonterey County 108 kmSan Benito County 108 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
16 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kings County, 32 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1431 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 51 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 5.8 300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 210,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 51 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 35.9970, -120.1572. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kings County, CA 32 km (20 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 73 km (45 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA 96 km (60 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fresno County
Monterey County, CA 108 km (67 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 108 km (67 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito 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. 2.0 11km NNW of Cholame, CA
  2. 1.7 23km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  3. 1.6 22km ENE of San Ardo, CA
  4. 2.0 8km SW of Kettleman City, CA
  5. 1.7 8km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  6. 2.8 8km SSW of Kettleman City, CA
  7. 1.8 10km SW of Huron, CA
  8. 2.0 9km E of Kettleman City, CA
  9. 1.9 6km ENE of San Miguel, CA
  10. 2.6 19km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  11. 1.7 25km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.6 9km W of Huron, CA
  13. 2.2 20km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  14. 1.8 24km NNW of Simmler, CA
  15. 2.2 10km SSE of Kettleman City, 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 1,600 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.