QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mlr

18km NNE of Ridgecrest, CA

· 2.6 km deep · released about 27 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 89 kmKern County 112 kmTulare County 116 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 4.2 (mlr)
Depth
2.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Inyo County, 89 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2558 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 27 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 6,200× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 280× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 27 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 57× 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 35.7787, -117.6122. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 89 km (55 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Inyo County
Kern County, CA 112 km (70 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 116 km (72 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. 3.4 18km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  2. 3.1 16km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  3. 3.0 15km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  4. 3.6 15km S of Searles Valley, CA
  5. 3.3 23km N of Ridgecrest, CA
  6. 3.2 13km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  7. 4.3 15km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  8. 4.8 16km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  9. 3.8 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  10. 2.9 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  11. 2.9 20km E of Little Lake, CA
  12. 3.2 12km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  13. 2.7 18km E of Little Lake, CA
  14. 3.2 19km S of Trona, CA
  15. 2.6 15km 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 7.1 on 2019-07-06 — it released about 25,000 times the energy of this one.

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

On USGS

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