QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.8ml

Earthquake near Ridgecrest, CA

Yes: an earthquake was likely felt in Ridgecrest in the last 24 hours. M 1.5, 7 km (4 mi) E of Ridgecrest, at 3:54 am PST on 12 November 2026 (11:54 UTC); the estimated shaking in Ridgecrest was intensity II (weak). Every earthquake near Ridgecrest

This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 9 km (5 mi) east of Ridgecrest, CA, at 10:44 pm PDT on 7 September 2019 (05:44 UTC), less than 1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

USGS: 9km E of Ridgecrest, CA

10:44 pm PDT, Sep 7, 2019 · · 0.9 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Ridgecrest Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 105 kmKern County 109 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
10:44 pm PDT on 7 September 2019 ()
Where
9 km (5 mi) east of Ridgecrest, CA · earthquakes near Ridgecrest
Magnitude
M 1.8 (ml)
Depth
0.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Inyo County, 105 km N
Nearest mapped fault
Little Lake fault, 10 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2622 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Ridgecrest, 9 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Ridgecrest 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 7.1 on 2019-07-06 — about 92,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 34 km WNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 16 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 35 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 23 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 19 km NNW 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 35.6247, -117.5763. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Inyo County, CA 105 km (65 mi) N earthquakes near Inyo County
Kern County, CA 109 km (68 mi) WSW earthquakes near Kern County
Tulare County, CA 128 km (79 mi) WNW earthquakes near Tulare County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 19km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  2. 2.0 17km W of Searles Valley, CA
  3. 2.7 20km E of Little Lake, CA
  4. 1.9 20km N of Searles Valley, CA
  5. 2.3 18km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  6. 2.0 22km ENE of Little Lake, CA
  7. 2.3 14km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  8. 2.5 20km E of Little Lake, CA
  9. 3.0 20km E of Little Lake, CA
  10. 2.7 15km NNE of Ridgecrest, CA
  11. 1.8 16km SSW of Searles Valley, CA
  12. 1.6 16km SSW of Trona, CA
  13. 2.2 22km WNW of Searles Valley, CA
  14. 1.8 15km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  15. 2.3 13km SSW of Searles Valley, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.