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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Yosemite Valley, 13 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 18 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 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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

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

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 6.0 7 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 48 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980
2. 5.9 8 km NNE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 45 km E of this epicentre Sep 18, 1927
3. 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 49 km NE of this epicentre Oct 24, 1990
4. 5.4 6 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 48 km E of this epicentre Jan 7, 1983
5. 5.3 3 km SE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 45 km E of this epicentre Jan 7, 1983

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 37.7053, -119.4412. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 3km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 15:52 UTC
2. 1.6 3km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 14:42 UTC
3. 1.8 28km NE of Oakhurst, CA 05:32 UTC
4. 1.8 19km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 14:51 UTC
5. 1.5 19km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 14:49 UTC
6. 1.8 19km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 14:42 UTC
7. 2.2 20km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 14:07 UTC
8. 1.5 31km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 06:02 UTC
9. 1.5 14km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 05:00 UTC
10. 1.8 24km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 21:18 UTC
11. 1.8 24km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 18:09 UTC
12. 1.7 27km SW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:35 UTC
13. 1.7 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 14:04 UTC
14. 2.3 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 04:23 UTC
15. 2.6 11km S of Mammoth Lakes, CA 00:23 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:27 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.