Earthquake near Big Pine, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 47 km (29 mi) from the epicentre. In Big Pine, 4 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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: Big Pine 4 km, intensity III · Bishop 22 km, intensity II · West Bishop 25 km, intensity II · Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek 25 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 150,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,900× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,900× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.3× more

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 200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 41 km NNW of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 42 km NW of this epicentre Nov 23, 1984
3. 6.1 46km E of Big Pine, California · 44 km E of this epicentre May 17, 1993
4. 6.0 Near Bishop, California · 20 km NW of this epicentre May 6, 1910
5. 5.9 18 km NNE of Mesa, California · 44 km NNW of this epicentre Jul 20, 1986

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 37.1925, -118.2695. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 2km ENE of Bishop, CA 20:34 UTC
2. 1.7 9km NE of Big Pine, CA 08:49 UTC
3. 1.6 6km WNW of Round Valley, CA 23:38 UTC
4. 2.2 4km WNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 02:04 UTC
5. 2.0 33km ESE of Big Pine, CA 04:05 UTC
6. 2.0 12km NNW of Independence, CA 07:58 UTC
7. 1.5 27 km ESE of Big Pine, California 09:46 UTC
8. 1.7 27 km ESE of Big Pine, California 07:43 UTC
9. 1.5 27 km SSE of Dyer, Nevada 11:08 UTC
10. 1.6 36km ENE of Independence, CA 10:20 UTC
11. 1.9 6km SSE of Round Valley, CA 16:35 UTC
12. 1.5 6km ESE of Round Valley, CA 00:26 UTC
13. 1.8 8km WSW of Round Valley, CA 09:19 UTC
14. 1.5 8km WSW of Round Valley, CA 06:26 UTC
15. 2.1 5km E of Wilkerson, CA 21:04 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:56 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.