QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

28 km NW of Benton, California

· 2.8 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mono County 20 kmMineral County 60 kmEsmeralda County 96 kmTuolumne County 112 kmAlpine County 118 kmMariposa County 119 kmLyon County 120 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
2.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mono County, 20 km SW
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 6.8 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 2,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 38.0218, -118.6838. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Mono County, CA 20 km (13 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Mono County
Mineral County, NV 60 km (37 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Mineral County
Esmeralda County, NV 96 km (60 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Tuolumne County, CA 112 km (70 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Alpine County, CA 118 km (73 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Alpine County
Mariposa County, CA 119 km (74 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mariposa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 30 km ENE of Bridgeport, California
  2. 1.5 28 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  3. 2.1 6 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  4. 1.6 29 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  5. 1.7 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  6. 1.6 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  7. 1.5 28 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  8. 2.1 California-Nevada border region
  9. 1.6 34 km NE of Benton, California
  10. 2.1 8 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  11. 2.0 28 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada
  12. 2.3 6 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California
  13. 1.6 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California
  14. 1.9 13 km SE of Bridgeport, California
  15. 2.1 29 km WSW of Hawthorne, Nevada

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 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — it released about 1,100,000 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.