Earthquake near Bishop, 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 79 km (49 mi) from the epicentre. In Bishop, 42 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: Bishop 42 km, intensity II · Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek 43 km, intensity II · West Bishop 47 km, intensity II · Big Pine 48 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 27,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.4 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 13× 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 2022-01-06 — about 32 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 · 43 km W of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.1 46km E of Big Pine, California · 42 km SSE of this epicentre May 17, 1993
3. 6.0 Near Bishop, California · 46 km WSW of this epicentre May 6, 1910
4. 5.9 18 km NNE of Mesa, California · 43 km W of this epicentre Jul 20, 1986
5. 5.8 10 km NNE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, California · 37 km W of this epicentre Jul 31, 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 37.5105, -117.9557. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 California-Nevada border region 03:45 UTC
2. 3.1 53 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada 03:35 UTC
3. 1.7 54 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada 03:34 UTC
4. 4.3 64km ENE of Big Pine, CA 03:26 UTC
5. 2.8 53 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada 03:06 UTC
6. 1.5 26 km SW of Goldfield, Nevada 11:00 UTC
7. 2.1 15km NE of Deep Springs, CA 07:57 UTC
8. 1.7 30 km SE of Dyer, Nevada 00:33 UTC
9. 2.3 14km NE of Deep Springs, CA 00:22 UTC
10. 1.9 25 km SSE of Dyer, Nevada 04:51 UTC
11. 1.6 24 km SSE of Dyer, Nevada 01:21 UTC
12. 1.5 17 km SSE of Dyer, Nevada 10:09 UTC
13. 2.2 16km N of Deep Springs, CA 03:32 UTC
14. 1.5 18 km SSE of Dyer, Nevada 02:27 UTC
15. 2.4 17km N of Deep Springs, CA 02:03 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:20 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.