Earthquake near Big Pine, 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 Big Pine, 9 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: Big Pine 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 91 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 170,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 120,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 10× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 91 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 4,700 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 · 39 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 · 41 km E of this epicentre May 17, 1993
4. 6.0 Near Bishop, California · 21 km WNW of this epicentre May 6, 1910
5. 5.9 18 km NNE of Mesa, California · 42 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 37.2283, -118.2262. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 6km NW of West Bishop, CA 20:34 UTC
2. 1.5 6km NW of West Bishop, CA 20:30 UTC
3. 1.7 17km NNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 00:20 UTC
4. 2.2 17km NNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 23:41 UTC
5. 2.6 7km N of Round Valley, CA 03:20 UTC
6. 3.9 4km WSW of Big Pine, CA 12:21 UTC
7. 2.6 6km E of Round Valley, CA 10:36 UTC
8. 2.6 6km E of Round Valley, CA 21:17 UTC
9. 2.3 2km ENE of Bishop, CA 20:34 UTC
10. 1.7 9km NE of Big Pine, CA 08:49 UTC
11. 1.6 6km WNW of Round Valley, CA 23:38 UTC
12. 2.2 4km WNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 02:04 UTC
13. 1.5 6 km ESE of Dyer, Nevada 17:17 UTC
14. 2.0 33km ESE of Big Pine, CA 04:05 UTC
15. 2.4 6 km SE of Dyer, Nevada 20:22 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:59 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.