10km NE of Coso Junction, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 127 km (79 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 54 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 3,100× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 140× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 99× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.4 about 54 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 110× 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 7.1 on 2019-07-06 — about 12,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 18 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 46 km S of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
2. 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 45 km SSE of this epicentre Sep 20, 1995
3. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 44 km S of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
4. 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 49 km S of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
5. 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 43 km SSE of this epicentre Aug 17, 1995

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 36.1160, -117.8840. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 17km W of Searles Valley, CA 08:24 UTC
2. 1.8 8km WNW of Searles Valley, CA 08:11 UTC
3. 1.7 15km E of Little Lake, CA 08:11 UTC
4. 1.5 14km NE of Coso Junction, CA 07:55 UTC
5. 1.9 11km ENE of Coso Junction, CA 07:02 UTC
6. 2.2 22km ESE of Little Lake, CA 06:44 UTC
7. 1.6 19km E of Little Lake, CA 06:34 UTC
8. 1.6 22km ESE of Little Lake, CA 06:27 UTC
9. 1.6 15km SE of Olancha, CA 06:13 UTC
10. 1.7 22km N of Ridgecrest, CA 06:09 UTC
11. 2.3 22km N of Ridgecrest, CA 06:08 UTC
12. 1.6 10km SSE of Little Lake, CA 06:02 UTC
13. 3.1 22km ESE of Little Lake, CA 05:49 UTC
14. 1.9 16km W of Searles Valley, CA 05:37 UTC
15. 1.5 17km W of Searles Valley, CA 05:26 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:06 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.