QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

20 km NW of Benton, California

· 9.0 km deep · released about 49 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mono County 23 kmMineral County 64 kmEsmeralda County 89 kmTuolumne 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
Magnitude
M 2.1 (md)
Depth
9.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mono County, 23 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3009 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.9642, -118.6165. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Mono County, CA 23 km (14 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mono County
Mineral County, NV 64 km (40 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Mineral County
Esmeralda County, NV 89 km (55 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Tuolumne County, CA 118 km (74 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Mariposa County, CA 122 km (76 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mariposa County
Alpine County, CA 126 km (79 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Alpine County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 8 km NW of Aspen Springs, California
  2. 1.5 30 km ENE of Bridgeport, California
  3. 2.5 30 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  4. 1.5 30 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  5. 1.5 24 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
  6. 1.6 27 km ENE of Bridgeport, California
  7. 1.6 28 km NW of Benton, California
  8. 1.5 31 km NW of Benton, California
  9. 1.9 10 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  10. 1.7 33 km ENE of Mono City, California
  11. 1.9 31 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  12. 1.6 30 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  13. 1.5 14 km ENE of Lee Vining, California
  14. 1.5 California-Nevada border region
  15. 1.6 3 km NE 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.