Earthquake near Avenal, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 29 km (18 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

Likely felt in: Avenal in town, intensity III · Kettleman City 15 km, intensity II · Huron 24 km, intensity II · Coalinga 27 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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 120 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 32 km NNW of this epicentre May 2, 1983
2. 6.5 1922 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 29 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 10, 1922
3. 6.4 1901 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 34 km W of this epicentre Mar 3, 1901
4. 6.0 2004 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 29 km SW of this epicentre Sep 28, 2004
5. 5.6 8 km SW of Huron, California · 17 km N of this epicentre Aug 4, 1985

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 35.9913, -120.1222. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.8 10 km WSW of Lanare, CA 07:45 UTC
2. 1.6 9 km NW of Parkfield, CA 16:38 UTC
3. 1.6 12 km NE of Coalinga, CA 04:52 UTC
4. 2.5 17 km NW of Parkfield, CA 02:33 UTC
5. 1.6 20 km NW of Parkfield, CA 15:48 UTC
6. 2.1 27 km SSE of Kettleman City, CA 13:24 UTC
7. 2.5 26 km SSE of Kettleman City, CA 13:24 UTC
8. 2.3 13 km N of Coalinga, CA 05:37 UTC
9. 1.5 13 km ENE of Cholame, CA 04:59 UTC
10. 1.8 28 km S of Kettleman City, CA 20:19 UTC
11. 2.4 12 km SW of Huron, CA 09:59 UTC
12. 1.5 4 km NE of Coalinga, CA 23:01 UTC
13. 1.6 2 km N of Coalinga, CA 22:46 UTC
14. 1.5 16 km NW of Parkfield, CA 11:17 UTC
15. 2.2 10 km SSE of Huron, CA 09:41 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 05:52 UTC. 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.