QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3mw

21km N of Searles Valley, CA

· 0.9 km deep · released about 46 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 68 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 4.3 (mw)
Depth
0.9 km below the surface
Felt
188 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity VI (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Inyo County, 68 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2304 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 188 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 3,700× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 46 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 95× 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.

Where

Epicentre 35.9555, -117.3630. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 68 km (42 mi) S of here earthquakes near Inyo 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. 1.8 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  2. 1.7 19km S of Searles Valley, CA
  3. 2.3 15km ESE of Ridgecrest, CA
  4. 2.0 18km E of Little Lake, CA
  5. 1.9 17km E of Little Lake, CA
  6. 1.6 14km SW of Searles Valley, CA
  7. 1.7 22km N of Searles Valley, CA
  8. 2.0 9km NE of Coso Junction, CA
  9. 1.6 10km NE of Coso Junction, CA
  10. 2.1 7km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  11. 1.9 14km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  12. 1.9 21km N of Ridgecrest, CA
  13. 1.6 14km WSW of Searles Valley, CA
  14. 1.8 12km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA
  15. 1.6 14km NE of Ridgecrest, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 7.1 on 2019-07-06 — it released about 15,000 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.