QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

12km NE of Coso Junction, CA

Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 12km NE of Coso Junction, CA, at 11:28 am PDT on 18 May 2020 (18:28 UTC), 3.6 km deep.

· 3.6 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 63 kmTulare County 83 kmKern County 117 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
3.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Inyo County, 63 km NE
Nearest mapped fault
Southern Sierra Nevada fault, 13 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 2368 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 10 km (6 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 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 230,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 48 km S of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 46 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 46 km S of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 44 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 27km E of Coso Junction, California · 21 km ESE 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 36.1335, -117.8673. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Inyo County, CA 63 km (39 mi) NE earthquakes near Inyo County
Tulare County, CA 83 km (51 mi) W earthquakes near Tulare County
Kern County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SW earthquakes near Kern County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 12km NNW of Coso Junction, CA
  2. 2.2 12km NNW of Coso Junction, CA
  3. 2.5 12km NNW of Coso Junction, CA
  4. 3.1 12km NNW of Coso Junction, CA
  5. 2.0 16km W of Searles Valley, CA
  6. 2.4 12km NNW of Coso Junction, CA
  7. 1.9 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  8. 2.6 17km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  9. 1.8 19km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  10. 1.5 16km SSE of Lone Pine, CA
  11. 1.9 11km NNE of Coso Junction, CA
  12. 2.1 15km E of Little Lake, CA
  13. 1.5 22km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  14. 1.6 19km ESE of Little Lake, CA
  15. 2.0 11km N 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

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