Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, 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 32 km (20 mi) from the epicentre. In Mammoth Lakes, 10 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: Mammoth Lakes 10 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 720 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 21,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 720 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 170 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 34 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 43 km E of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 13 km ESE of this epicentre May 27, 1980
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 9 km ENE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 11 km E of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 31 km ESE 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 37.5660, -118.9260. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.6 6km E of Round Valley, CA 10:36 UTC
2. 2.6 6km E of Round Valley, CA 21:17 UTC
3. 1.7 6km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:14 UTC
4. 1.6 6km WNW of Round Valley, CA 23:38 UTC
5. 1.5 18km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 14:12 UTC
6. 2.2 4km WNW of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA 02:04 UTC
7. 2.5 24km ENE of Oakhurst, CA 14:53 UTC
8. 1.5 32km NE of North Fork, CA 12:19 UTC
9. 1.5 6km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 21:07 UTC
10. 1.5 6km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA 18:20 UTC
11. 1.7 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 20:20 UTC
12. 1.7 29km NE of Oakhurst, CA 22:43 UTC
13. 2.0 14km WNW of Toms Place, CA 08:52 UTC
14. 1.6 15km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 10:07 UTC
15. 1.9 6km SSE of Round Valley, CA 16:35 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:07 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.