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, 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 17 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 900,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 640,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 57× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 17 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 7,400 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 47 km ESE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
2. 6.0 7 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 40 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980
3. 5.9 8 km NNE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 38 km E of this epicentre Sep 18, 1927
4. 5.9 11 km SE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 45 km ESE of this epicentre Sep 30, 1981
5. 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 46 km NNE of this epicentre Oct 24, 1990

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 37.6902, -119.3537. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 17km WSW of Toms Place, CA 00:33 UTC
2. 1.5 11km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 07:20 UTC
3. 1.8 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 06:10 UTC
4. 1.6 17km WSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 16:53 UTC
5. 1.9 30km NE of Oakhurst, CA 16:40 UTC
6. 2.4 17km WSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 16:38 UTC
7. 1.6 7km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:44 UTC
8. 1.9 14km WNW of Toms Place, CA 22:54 UTC
9. 2.0 14km WNW of Toms Place, CA 14:55 UTC
10. 1.5 14km WNW of Toms Place, CA 23:09 UTC
11. 1.7 14km WSW of Toms Place, CA 04:25 UTC
12. 2.0 14km WNW of Toms Place, CA 15:54 UTC
13. 1.8 20km SE of Yosemite Valley, CA 14:09 UTC
14. 1.7 18km WSW of Toms Place, CA 00:50 UTC
15. 1.6 7km N of Oakhurst, CA 23:31 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:11 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.