Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.0ml
Earthquake near Inyokern, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Inyokern in the 24 hours to 3:55 pm PST (23:55 UTC). The last one was M 3.2, 38 km (23 mi) S, at 8:01 am PDT on 23 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 3 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Inyokern
This page: a magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) north-northeast of Inyokern, CA, at 1:39 pm PDT on 20 March 2020 (20:39 UTC), 8.9 km deep.
USGS: 16km NNE of Inyokern, CA
- When
- 1:39 pm PDT on 20 March 2020 ()
- Where
- 16 km (10 mi) north-northeast of Inyokern, CA · earthquakes near Inyokern
- Magnitude
- M 2.0 (ml)
- Depth
- 8.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 92 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Little Lake fault, 4 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 1382 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Inyokern, CA
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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 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Inyokern, 16 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: China Lake Acres, Ridgecrest.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 29 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 520,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 370,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 33× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.0 about 29 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 46,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 21 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 9 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 19 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 14 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 7 km E 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 35.7792, -117.7365. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 92 km (57 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Inyo County |
| Kern County, CA | 102 km (63 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Tulare County, CA | 106 km (66 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Tulare County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 13km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.7 8km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
- 2.3 24km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.9 11km NNE of Coso Junction, CA
- 1.5 13km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.0 14km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.6 19km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.5 12km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
- 1.9 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 2.0 17km W of Searles Valley, CA
- 2.6 16km E of Little Lake, CA
- 2.0 21km N of Ridgecrest, CA
- 2.6 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA
- 1.7 21km NNE of Searles Valley, CA
- 3.0 19km S of Trona, 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.