Earthquake near Yosemite Valley, 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 3 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Yosemite Valley, 21 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 43 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 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 2,900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 48 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980
2. 6.0 7 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 41 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980
3. 5.9 8 km NNE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 40 km E of this epicentre Sep 18, 1927
4. 5.9 11 km SE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 45 km E of this epicentre Sep 30, 1981
5. 5.7 12 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 47 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980

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 37.6493, -119.3672. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 12km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 22:46 UTC
2. 1.8 22km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 11:42 UTC
3. 2.2 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 04:17 UTC
4. 1.7 20km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 22:16 UTC
5. 1.6 22km SW of Toms Place, CA 04:26 UTC
6. 2.0 22km SW of Toms Place, CA 02:20 UTC
7. 1.6 15km ESE of Yosemite Valley, CA 16:14 UTC
8. 1.7 5km W of Mammoth Lakes, CA 12:12 UTC
9. 1.9 18km WSW of Toms Place, CA 08:42 UTC
10. 1.8 14km WSW of Toms Place, CA 10:38 UTC
11. 1.5 14km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 05:01 UTC
12. 1.9 14km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 00:05 UTC
13. 1.9 19km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 17:09 UTC
14. 1.6 22km SW of Toms Place, CA 06:04 UTC
15. 2.3 17km WSW of Toms Place, CA 01:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 19:45 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.