Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 70 km (43 mi) from the epicentre. In Mammoth Lakes, 15 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Mammoth Lakes 15 km, intensity III · West Bishop 41 km, intensity II · Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek 42 km, intensity II · Bishop 45 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 4.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 42,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 4.1 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 8.5× more

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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 41 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 34 km E of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 9 km S of this epicentre May 27, 1980
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 1 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 3 km SSE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 23 km SE 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 37.5822, -118.8218. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 4.4 13km WNW of Toms Place, CA 18:36 UTC
2. 3.4 5km NNW of Round Valley, CA 02:13 UTC
3. 2.5 22km SW of Toms Place, CA 07:08 UTC
4. 2.0 15km W of Toms Place, CA 19:47 UTC
5. 1.6 12km SSW of Toms Place, CA 21:41 UTC
6. 1.6 6km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 21:39 UTC
7. 1.5 4km NNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 04:51 UTC
8. 1.9 6km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 19:16 UTC
9. 1.7 15km SW of Toms Place, CA 06:56 UTC
10. 1.5 12km SSW of Toms Place, CA 00:05 UTC
11. 1.6 11km SW of West Bishop, CA 01:27 UTC
12. 1.5 9km WNW of Round Valley, CA 17:50 UTC
13. 1.9 14km WSW of Toms Place, CA 23:41 UTC
14. 1.7 14km SW of West Bishop, CA 16:46 UTC
15. 2.1 4km WSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 07:22 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 06:22 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.