QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 7.1mw

Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence

· 8.0 km deep · released about 670 kilotons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 90 kmKern County 113 kmTulare County 118 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 7.1 (mw)
Depth
8.0 km below the surface
Felt
39888 reports · strongest reported intensity IX
Measured shaking
intensity IX (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
yellow
Nearest
Inyo County, 90 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 25 days ago

This was a major earthquake. Serious damage is likely near the epicentre. Follow official information from USGS and local authorities. 39888 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 670 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 8.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Great Alaska earthquake 1964 M 9.2 1,400× the energy of this one
  2. Tōhoku, Japan 2011 M 9.1 1,000× the energy of this one
  3. San Francisco 1906 M 7.9 16× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 7.1 about 670 kilotons of TNT
  5. Loma Prieta, California 1989 M 6.9 this one released 2× more
  6. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 this one released 4× 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.

Where

Epicentre 35.7695, -117.5993. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 90 km (56 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Inyo County
Kern County, CA 113 km (70 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 118 km (73 mi) ESE of here 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. 4.0 15km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  2. 3.8 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  3. 4.1 17km E of Ridgecrest, CA
  4. 3.9 18km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  5. 4.2 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  6. 3.7 19km S of Trona, CA
  7. 3.6 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  8. 3.3 24km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  9. 3.9 18km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  10. 4.0 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  11. 3.5 13km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  12. 3.6 14km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  13. 3.5 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  14. 3.9 19km E of Little Lake, CA
  15. 3.5 18km ESE of Little Lake, 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 6.4 on 2019-07-04.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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