Earthquake near Searles Valley, CA

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. In Searles Valley, 42 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 6.6 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 36 km S of this epicentre Sep 20, 1995
2. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 48 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
3. 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 48 km SSW of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
4. 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 34 km S of this epicentre Aug 17, 1995
5. 5.3 27km E of Coso Junction, California · 1 km S of this epicentre Nov 27, 1996

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 36.0855, -117.6513. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 12km NE of Little Lake, CA 02:04 UTC
2. 1.7 21km SW of Olancha, CA 23:48 UTC
3. 1.9 21km SW of Olancha, CA 23:14 UTC
4. 1.8 21km SW of Olancha, CA 23:11 UTC
5. 1.9 21km SW of Olancha, CA 23:10 UTC
6. 2.1 36km WSW of Stovepipe Wells, CA 18:13 UTC
7. 1.8 26km NNW of Searles Valley, CA 21:31 UTC
8. 2.5 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA 20:04 UTC
9. 1.8 23km NNW of Searles Valley, CA 14:09 UTC
10. 2.1 14km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA 00:35 UTC
11. 1.9 21km SW of Olancha, CA 02:43 UTC
12. 1.6 21km E of Little Lake, CA 00:25 UTC
13. 1.8 12km SW of Searles Valley, CA 14:05 UTC
14. 1.9 16km W of Searles Valley, CA 13:41 UTC
15. 2.3 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA 16:36 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:34 UTC. 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.