Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.1ml
Earthquake near Searles Valley, CA
USGS: 21 km N of Searles Valley, CA
- When
- 5:45 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 21 km (13 mi) N of Searles Valley, CA · earthquakes near Searles Valley
- Magnitude
- M 1.1 (ml)
- Depth
- 2.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Inyo County, 68 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Ash Hill fault, 10 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 52 minutes ago
A magnitude 1.1 earthquake was recorded 21 km (13 mi) N of Searles Valley, CA, at 5:45 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 (00:45 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 1.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.1 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,700,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 680× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.1 about 1.4 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 970,000,000 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 · 50 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.4 17km N of Ridgecrest, California · 32 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 35.9550, -117.3878. 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
No further earthquakes have 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 | 35.95 | 35.96 | |
| depth | 2.87 | 2.82 | |
| magnitude | 1.28 | 1.11 |
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.