Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.6mw
16km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.6 (mw)
- Depth
- 3.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- 13 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Measured shaking
- intensity VI (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 103 km N
- 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. 13 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 100 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,600× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 72× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 51× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.6 about 100 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 220× 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 35.6390, -117.4913. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | S of here | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Kern County, CA | 117 km (73 mi) | ENE of here | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Tulare County, CA | 133 km (83 mi) | ESE of here | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| San Bernardino County, CA | 147 km (92 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near San Bernardino 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.
- 2.5 17km E of Little Lake, CA
- 2.6 14km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.5 24km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 2.1 16km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 2.4 17km E of Little Lake, CA
- 2.4 20km NNE of Ridgecrest, CA
- 2.2 19km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 2.4 17km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.0 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 2.3 16km W of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.2 12km SW of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.0 24km WNW of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.1 22km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.8 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.8 16km 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 6,500 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.