Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, CA

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 Mammoth Lakes, 39 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 710,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 45× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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 4.4 on 2020-02-01 — about 5,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 20 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 41 km ENE of this epicentre May 27, 1980
2. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 43 km NE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
3. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 43 km ENE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 50 km ENE of this epicentre Sep 14, 1941
5. 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 50 km ENE of this epicentre Sep 14, 1941

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 37.3650, -119.2335. 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. 1.5 11km WNW of Toms Place, CA 20:02 UTC
2. 1.9 14km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 06:23 UTC
3. 1.6 22km ESE of Yosemite Valley, CA 23:01 UTC
4. 2.4 7km SE of North Fork, CA 23:48 UTC
5. 1.9 18km SSE of Shaver Lake, CA 00:35 UTC
6. 1.6 8km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 06:04 UTC
7. 2.3 8km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 05:57 UTC
8. 2.0 13km WNW of Round Valley, CA 02:08 UTC
9. 1.9 9km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 01:19 UTC
10. 2.8 18km SSE of Shaver Lake, CA 17:46 UTC
11. 1.6 21km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 15:55 UTC
12. 1.7 12km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 23:43 UTC
13. 2.9 14km S of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:19 UTC
14. 1.9 17km WSW of Toms Place, CA 11:02 UTC
15. 2.3 24km NNE of Squaw Valley, CA 01:46 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:35 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.