Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.1ml
Earthquake near Searles Valley, CA
USGS: 21 km N of Searles Valley, CA
- When
- 5:42 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 21 km (13 mi) N of Searles Valley, CA · earthquakes near Searles Valley
- Magnitude
- M 2.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 2.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 68 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Ash Hill fault, 11 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 56 minutes ago
A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 21 km (13 mi) N of Searles Valley, CA, at 5:42 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 (00:42 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 51 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 210,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.1 about 51 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 27,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 14 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.0 Death Valley area, California · 35 km E of this epicentre
- 5.9 Death Valley area, California · 35 km E of this epicentre
- 5.8 16km NNE of Ridgecrest, California · 31 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.4 4km N of Inyokern, CA · 49 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 31 km SW 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 35.9537, -117.3898. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inyo County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | N | earthquakes near Inyo County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| longitude | -117.38 | -117.39 | |
| latitude | 35.96 | 35.95 | |
| depth | 1.87 | 2.5 | |
| magnitude | 2.21 | 2.15 |
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.