QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.5ml

10 km SE of Stovepipe Wells, CA

· 4.6 km deep · released about 97 tons of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Inyo County 31 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 4.5 (ml)
Depth
4.6 km below the surface
Felt
208 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Inyo County, 31 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 631 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 208 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 97 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,700× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 78× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 55× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.5 about 97 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 200× 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 36.5508, -117.0560. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Inyo County, CA 31 km (19 mi) E of here earthquakes near Inyo 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. 2.6 17 km SSW of Beatty, Nevada
  2. 2.1 38 km WSW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  3. 1.9 17 km W of Furnace Creek, CA
  4. 3.3 8 km SSW of Furnace Creek, CA
  5. 1.9 26 km WNW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  6. 1.8 21 km SSE of Beatty, Nevada
  7. 1.6 31 km WSW of Furnace Creek, California
  8. 2.2 6 km SW of Furnace Creek, CA
  9. 1.8 6 km SW of Furnace Creek, CA
  10. 1.6 10 km SW of Furnace Creek, California
  11. 1.8 8 km SSW of Furnace Creek, CA
  12. 1.5 47 km SSW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  13. 1.8 47 km SSW of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  14. 2.6 8 km ESE of Stovepipe Wells, CA
  15. 1.6 24 km NW of Furnace Creek, California

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 4.7 on 2020-08-19 — it released about 1.9 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.