QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mw

18km WNW of Searles Valley, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 26 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 86 kmKern County 115 kmTulare County 117 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 (mw)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
24 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Inyo County, 86 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1431 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 24 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 26 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 6,500× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 290× 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 26 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 55× 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 35.8057, -117.5940. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 86 km (53 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Inyo County
Kern County, CA 115 km (71 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 117 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

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

  1. 1.8 8km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  2. 1.9 6km E of Coso Junction, CA
  3. 1.8 13km ENE of Coso Junction, CA
  4. 1.9 23km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA
  5. 2.0 14km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  6. 1.8 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  7. 2.6 16km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  8. 3.4 15km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  9. 1.9 18km ENE of Little Lake, CA
  10. 2.4 24km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  11. 2.7 13km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  12. 2.1 23km S of Trona, CA
  13. 1.7 23km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  14. 1.5 23km N of Ridgecrest, CA
  15. 1.8 22km 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 26,000 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.