More than 400 tremors have followed a 5.2-magnitude earthquake near Bakersfield that sent shaking across Southern California earlier this week.
The quake struck the southernmost end of the Central Valley, about 90 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, just after 9 p.m. Tuesday and was felt throughout parts of Kern, Los Angeles and Ventura counties. In the two days since, there have been 74 smaller earthquakes measuring a magnitude of 2.5 and above within 10 miles of the epicenter of Tuesday night’s temblor.
When taking into account much smaller quakes — tremors measuring as low as less than a 1.0 magnitude — there have been more than 400 in the two days since and within 10 miles of Tuesday’s quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey .
Aftershocks, mainshocks and foreshocks
Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that follow a so-called “mainshock,” which is what Tuesday’s 5.2-magnitude event appears to have been, according to California seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones . Aftershocks occur in the same general area as the mainshock and often follow such a quake due to that fault lines lying underneath.