QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.9ml

4km WSW of Big Pine, CA

· 8.2 km deep · released about 11 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Esmeralda County 93 kmMono County 97 kmInyo County 106 kmTulare County 110 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 3.9 (ml)
Depth
8.2 km below the surface
Felt
53 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Esmeralda County, 93 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1327 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 53 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 15,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 680× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 480× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.9 about 11 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 23× 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.1563, -118.3380. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Esmeralda County, NV 93 km (58 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Mono County, CA 97 km (60 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Mono County
Inyo County, CA 106 km (66 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Inyo County
Tulare County, CA 110 km (69 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Tulare County
Fresno County, CA 125 km (78 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Fresno County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 16km N of Deep Springs, CA
  2. 1.6 4km ENE of Round Valley, CA
  3. 2.5 4km NNW of West Bishop, CA
  4. 1.7 43 km E of Big Pine, California
  5. 1.7 8km ESE of Wilkerson, CA
  6. 1.8 18km WSW of Big Pine, CA
  7. 2.1 11km ENE of Big Pine, CA
  8. 1.5 2 km ENE of Bishop, California
  9. 1.6 7km NE of Wilkerson, CA
  10. 1.9 2km ENE of Round Valley, CA
  11. 1.8 4km ENE of Round Valley, CA
  12. 1.5 15km W of Round Valley, CA
  13. 2.3 22km WSW of Wilkerson, CA
  14. 1.7 6km NNE of Round Valley, CA
  15. 1.7 California-Nevada border region

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.8 on 2016-02-16 — it released about 19 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.