Earthquake near West 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 18 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In West Bishop, 8 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.

Likely felt in: West Bishop 8 km, intensity II · Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek 10 km, intensity II · Bishop 12 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 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 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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 8,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 39 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 17 km NNE of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 27 km WNW of this epicentre May 27, 1980
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 34 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 30 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 10 km NW 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 37.3995, -118.5268. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 10km WSW of Toms Place, CA 19:56 UTC
2. 2.2 6km E of Round Valley, CA 13:31 UTC
3. 2.2 5km WNW of Toms Place, CA 12:30 UTC
4. 3.4 5km WNW of Toms Place, CA 21:14 UTC
5. 3.3 6km WNW of Toms Place, CA 02:30 UTC
6. 1.6 9km W of Toms Place, CA 09:59 UTC
7. 1.9 7km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 19:35 UTC
8. 2.1 7km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 19:34 UTC
9. 2.8 10km SW of Toms Place, CA 22:55 UTC
10. 1.5 7km NW of West Bishop, CA 22:22 UTC
11. 2.1 12km W of Toms Place, CA 06:36 UTC
12. 2.0 12km W of Toms Place, CA 05:05 UTC
13. 2.7 6km NE of Round Valley, CA 20:38 UTC
14. 1.5 17km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:00 UTC
15. 1.8 16km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 15:30 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:58 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.