Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, 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 4 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Mammoth Lakes, 26 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 6.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.6 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 19,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 26 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 26 km ENE of this epicentre May 27, 1980
2. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 28 km NE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
3. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 28 km ENE of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 42 km E of this epicentre Nov 23, 1984
5. 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 35 km ENE of this epicentre Sep 14, 1941

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 37.4273, -119.0807. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 13km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 13:44 UTC
2. 2.0 4km E of Round Valley, CA 08:26 UTC
3. 2.7 3km NE of Round Valley, CA 08:05 UTC
4. 1.6 13km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 05:34 UTC
5. 1.8 10km WNW of Toms Place, CA 23:22 UTC
6. 2.0 19km S of Mammoth Lakes, CA 19:50 UTC
7. 1.7 15km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 18:31 UTC
8. 2.2 3km ESE of Round Valley, CA 22:09 UTC
9. 1.6 13km NW of Toms Place, CA 20:40 UTC
10. 1.6 9km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 23:51 UTC
11. 1.6 4km ENE of Round Valley, CA 02:31 UTC
12. 1.6 20km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 09:25 UTC
13. 1.5 13km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 20:00 UTC
14. 2.1 16km E of Yosemite Valley, CA 01:40 UTC
15. 2.5 6km WNW of Toms Place, CA 00:25 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:07 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.