Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.6ml
14km NE of Coso Junction, CA
Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 14km NE of Coso Junction, CA, at 11:31 am PDT on 3 September 2019 (18:31 UTC), 2.4 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 2.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 61 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Southern Sierra Nevada fault, 16 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 2627 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 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 11 km (7 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 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 200,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 48 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 44 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 46 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 50 km S of this epicentre
- 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 42 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 36.1265, -117.8220. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 61 km (38 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Tulare County, CA | 87 km (54 mi) | W | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Kern County, CA | 119 km (74 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
43 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 21km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.8 21km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.6 21km WNW of Searles Valley, CA
- 1.6 11km S of Olancha, CA
- 1.8 16km W of Searles Valley, CA
- 1.9 10km NE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.0 14km W of Searles Valley, CA
- 1.5 8km ENE of Coso Junction, CA
- 2.7 20km E of Little Lake, CA
- 1.8 15km WSW of Olancha, CA
- 1.6 16km WSW of Olancha, CA
- 1.5 23km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 2.2 19km N of Searles Valley, CA
- 1.6 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.6 9km 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.