QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Earthquake near West Bishop, CA

Yes: an earthquake was likely felt in West Bishop in the last 24 hours. M 1.9, 8 km (5 mi) NW of West Bishop, at 8:40 am PST on 13 November 2026 (16:40 UTC); the estimated shaking in West Bishop was intensity II (weak). Every earthquake near West Bishop

This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 17 km (11 mi) northwest of West Bishop, CA, at 11:41 am PDT on 12 September 2016 (18:41 UTC), 14 km deep.

USGS: 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California

11:41 am PDT, Sep 12, 2016 · · 14 km deep · released about 7.1 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mono County 56 kmEsmeralda County 92 kmMadera County 105 kmMariposa County 116 kmMineral County 118 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
11:41 am PDT on 12 September 2016 ()
Where
17 km (11 mi) northwest of West Bishop, CA · earthquakes near West Bishop
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mono County, 56 km NNW
Nearest mapped fault
Round Valley fault, 7 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 3056 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In West Bishop, 17 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, Bishop.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.1 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 2,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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 4.8 on 2016-02-16 — about 61,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 40 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 16 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 19 km WNW of this epicentre
  3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 25 km NW of this epicentre
  4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 21 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 1 km WSW 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 37.4615, -118.5993. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Mono County, CA 56 km (35 mi) NNW earthquakes near Mono County
Esmeralda County, NV 92 km (57 mi) ENE earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Madera County, CA 105 km (66 mi) WSW earthquakes near Madera County
Mariposa County, CA 116 km (72 mi) W earthquakes near Mariposa County
Mineral County, NV 118 km (74 mi) N earthquakes near Mineral County
Fresno County, CA 122 km (76 mi) SW earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 California-Nevada border region
  2. 2.1 3 km E of Mammoth Lakes, California
  3. 2.5 3 km E of Mammoth Lakes, California
  4. 1.9 9 km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, California
  5. 1.5 10 km W of Aspen Springs, California
  6. 1.8 11 km W of Aspen Springs, California
  7. 1.8 4 km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
  8. 1.5 15 km S of Mammoth Lakes, California
  9. 1.5 11 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  10. 1.9 11 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  11. 1.5 3 km ENE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, California
  12. 2.1 13 km WSW of Aspen Springs, California
  13. 1.6 4 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  14. 1.7 4 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  15. 1.7 4 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, 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.

On USGS

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