Earthquake near Kettleman City, 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 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. In Kettleman City, 12 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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: Kettleman City 12 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 190 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 80,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 57,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.1× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 190 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 2025-02-14 — about 380 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 45 km WNW of this epicentre May 2, 1983
2. 5.6 8 km SW of Huron, California · 29 km WNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1985
3. 5.5 11 km NNE of Coalinga, California · 43 km WNW of this epicentre May 2, 1983
4. 5.5 11 km NE of Coalinga, California · 42 km WNW of this epicentre Sep 9, 1983
5. 5.3 4 km NNE of Coalinga, California · 46 km WNW of this epicentre Feb 14, 1987

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 36.0662, -119.8510. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 2.7 14 km SW of Lanare, CA 11:51 UTC
2. 2.1 7 km NNE of Avenal, CA 08:39 UTC
3. 1.8 6 km NNE of Avenal, CA 08:11 UTC
4. 1.8 1 km SSW of Huron, CA 22:49 UTC
5. 1.6 4 km WSW of Huron, CA 15:28 UTC
6. 1.7 10 km ESE of Huron, CA 15:51 UTC
7. 1.7 1 km ENE of Huron, CA 08:48 UTC
8. 1.8 26 km SSE of Kettleman City, CA 05:40 UTC
9. 2.0 26 km SE of Kettleman City, CA 19:41 UTC
10. 1.6 1 km S of Huron, CA 20:44 UTC
11. 1.5 1 km SSE of Huron, CA 20:40 UTC
12. 1.8 2 km SSE of Huron, CA 11:27 UTC
13. 2.3 1 km SSE of Huron, CA 02:54 UTC
14. 1.7 12 km NNE of Coalinga, CA 16:53 UTC
15. 1.9 13 km SE of Kettleman City, CA 03:31 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:17 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.