Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.6mw
9km NE of Coso Junction, CA
Yes. A magnitude 4.6 earthquake was recorded 9km NE of Coso Junction, CA, at 8:59 pm PDT on 17 July 2019 (03:59 UTC), 1.6 km deep. 140 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 4.6 (mw)
- Depth
- 1.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- 140 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity VI (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 66 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Southern Sierra Nevada fault, 10 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1863 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Inyokern, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Inyokern, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 153 km (95 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 140 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 1,200× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 55× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 39× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.6 about 140 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 290× 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 4,900 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 18 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 46 km S of this epicentre
- 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 45 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 44 km S of this epicentre
- 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 49 km S of this epicentre
- 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 43 km SSE of this epicentre
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 36.1130, -117.8875. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Tulare County, CA | 81 km (50 mi) | W | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Kern County, CA | 114 km (71 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 9km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.6 11km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.8 8km ENE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.5 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.8 9km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.8 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.5 16km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.7 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.8 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.6 10km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.6 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.6 9km NNE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.2 10km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.0 17km W of Searles Valley, CA
- 1.8 10km ENE of Coso Junction, 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.
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.