QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Earthquake near Bishop, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Bishop in the 24 hours to 3:29 pm PST (23:29 UTC). The last one was M 2.0, 9 km (5 mi) NW, at 9:02 pm PDT on 30 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Bishop

This page: a magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 48 km (30 mi) east-northeast of Bishop, CA, at 11:20 am PDT on 12 July 2023 (18:20 UTC), 6.9 km deep.

USGS: 14 km NE of Deep Springs, CA

11:20 am PDT, Jul 12, 2023 · · 6.9 km deep · released about 260 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Esmeralda County 41 kmMono County 102 kmInyo County 108 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
11:20 am PDT on 12 July 2023 ()
Where
48 km (30 mi) east-northeast of Bishop, CA · earthquakes near Bishop
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
6.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Esmeralda County, 41 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault
Fish Lake Valley fault, 4 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1153 days ago

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 23 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In Bishop, 48 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 260 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 59,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 42,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 260 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 2022-01-06 — about 1,600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.1 46km E of Big Pine, California · 34 km SSE of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 10 km NNE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, California · 44 km W of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 24 km WSW of Dyer, Nevada · 46 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 16 km NNW of Dyer, Nevada · 45 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 47km NNE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA · 45 km NW of this epicentre

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 37.4623, -117.8658. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Esmeralda County, NV 41 km (25 mi) NNE earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Mono County, CA 102 km (63 mi) WNW earthquakes near Mono County
Inyo County, CA 108 km (67 mi) SSE earthquakes near Inyo County
Mineral County, NV 127 km (79 mi) NNW earthquakes near Mineral County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 60 km E of Big Pine, CA
  2. 1.8 59 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada
  3. 1.5 60 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada
  4. 1.6 2 km WSW of Bishop, CA
  5. 1.6 52 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada
  6. 1.6 6 km NE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, CA
  7. 1.7 5 km ESE of Dyer, Nevada
  8. 2.0 5 km ESE of Dyer, Nevada
  9. 1.7 7 km ENE of Bishop, CA
  10. 1.5 54 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada
  11. 1.7 44 km E of Big Pine, California
  12. 1.6 5 km ESE of Big Pine, California
  13. 2.4 50 km S of Silver Peak, Nevada
  14. 1.6 7 km ESE of Wilkerson, CA
  15. 2.1 13 km N of Deep Springs, CA

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.

On USGS

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