Earthquake near Bishop, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Bishop, 19 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, West Bishop.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.8 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 1,900,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.8 on 2016-02-16 — about 55,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 42 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 1 km WNW of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 33 km W of this epicentre May 27, 1980
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 36 km W of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 33 km W of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 17 km WSW of this epicentre Nov 23, 1984

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 37.5335, -118.4333. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 13 km N of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, California 03:06 UTC
2. 2.0 5 km E of Mammoth Lakes, California 17:19 UTC
3. 1.9 7 km N of Benton, California 08:08 UTC
4. 1.6 19 km NNW of Sunny Slopes, California 21:53 UTC
5. 1.9 14 km SW of Aspen Springs, California 08:43 UTC
6. 2.2 19 km SW of Aspen Springs, California 21:15 UTC
7. 1.6 8 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California 18:53 UTC
8. 2.7 8 km ENE of Swall Meadows, California 03:44 UTC
9. 2.1 7 km SSW of Wilkerson, California 23:59 UTC
10. 1.6 7 km N of Benton, California 21:13 UTC
11. 1.9 14 km WSW of Aspen Springs, California 05:01 UTC
12. 1.8 9 km W of Aspen Springs, California 02:53 UTC
13. 1.7 7 km N of Benton, California 18:55 UTC
14. 1.8 7 km N of Benton, California 18:52 UTC
15. 2.3 15 km SW of Aspen Springs, California 09:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:27 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.