QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

25km NW of Stovepipe Wells, CA

· 1.6 km deep · released about 44 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 24 kmEsmeralda County 115 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
1.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Inyo County, 24 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2201 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 44 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 340,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 44 lb of TNT

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 36.7713, -117.3327. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 24 km (15 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Inyo County
Esmeralda County, NV 115 km (72 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 20 km N of Furnace Creek, California
  2. 1.6 60km NNW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  3. 1.6 48 km ENE of Independence, California
  4. 2.0 58 km SSW of Goldfield, Nevada
  5. 1.5 59 km SSW of Goldfield, Nevada
  6. 2.1 57 km SSW of Goldfield, Nevada
  7. 2.0 58 km SSW of Goldfield, Nevada
  8. 2.3 58 km SSW of Goldfield, Nevada
  9. 1.6 58 km S of Goldfield, Nevada
  10. 1.9 52km ENE of Independence, CA
  11. 2.1 43km E of Independence, CA
  12. 1.8 53 km NE of Keeler, California
  13. 2.8 36km NW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  14. 1.5 42 km NW of Beatty, Nevada
  15. 2.8 67 km ENE of Independence, California

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 4.7 on 2020-08-19 — it released about 8,200 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.