QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4ml

Earthquake near Ridgecrest, CA

Yes: an earthquake was likely felt in Ridgecrest in the last 24 hours. M 1.5, 7 km (4 mi) E of Ridgecrest, at 3:54 am PST on 12 November 2026 (11:54 UTC); the estimated shaking in Ridgecrest was intensity II (weak). Every earthquake near Ridgecrest

This page: a magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 8 km (5 mi) east-southeast of Ridgecrest, CA, at 11:01 am PDT on 4 July 2019 (18:01 UTC), 6.8 km deep.

USGS: 8km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA

11:01 am PDT, Jul 4, 2019 · · 6.8 km deep · released about 2 tons of TNT

Every earthquake near Ridgecrest Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kern County 107 kmInyo County 109 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
11:01 am PDT on 4 July 2019 ()
Where
8 km (5 mi) east-southeast of Ridgecrest, CA · earthquakes near Ridgecrest
Magnitude
M 3.4 (ml)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Kern County, 107 km WSW
Nearest mapped fault
Little Lake fault, 9 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2640 days ago

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 58 km (36 mi) from the epicentre. In Ridgecrest, 8 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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: Ridgecrest 8 km, intensity III · Searles Valley 25 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 83,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,700× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 4.3× more

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 6.4 on 2019-07-04 — about 30,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 34 km WNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 19 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 35 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 23 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 21 km NNW of this epicentre

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 35.5978, -117.5905. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Kern County, CA 107 km (66 mi) WSW earthquakes near Kern County
Inyo County, CA 109 km (67 mi) N earthquakes near Inyo County
Tulare County, CA 128 km (80 mi) WNW earthquakes near Tulare County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 9km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA
  2. 2.2 12km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  3. 2.0 12km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  4. 1.7 10km NE of Ridgecrest, CA
  5. 2.4 10km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  6. 2.1 14km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  7. 2.1 11km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  8. 2.4 12km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  9. 2.6 11km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  10. 3.0 5km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA
  11. 3.4 6km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  12. 1.8 14km W of Searles Valley, CA
  13. 2.2 11km NNE of Ridgecrest, CA
  14. 2.2 12km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  15. 1.8 12km SW of Searles Valley, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.