Earthquake near West 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 West Bishop, 14 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: West Bishop 14 km, intensity III · Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek 17 km, intensity III · Bishop 20 km, intensity III · Big Pine 38 km, intensity II · Mammoth Lakes 42 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.6 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 26,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.6 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 14× 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 2016-02-16 — about 33 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 39 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 22 km NE of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.2 9 km SW of Aspen Springs, California · 21 km NW of this epicentre May 27, 1980
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 29 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 25 km NW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.1 4 km NNW of Round Valley, California · 7 km N 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 37.3968, -118.6120. 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. 1.5 4 km SSW of Bishop, CA 13:10 UTC
2. 2.2 13 km SW of Toms Place, CA 01:23 UTC
3. 1.6 26 km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 21:20 UTC
4. 1.7 17 km W of Toms Place, CA 19:31 UTC
5. 1.7 2 km S of Round Valley, CA 23:14 UTC
6. 1.6 19 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 09:30 UTC
7. 2.5 15 km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 08:19 UTC
8. 1.8 15 km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 02:17 UTC
9. 2.4 15 km SSE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 02:17 UTC
10. 1.6 13 km W of Round Valley, CA 03:00 UTC
11. 1.8 13 km W of Toms Place, CA 10:29 UTC
12. 2.6 16 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 23:50 UTC
13. 2.7 19 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 06:21 UTC
14. 2.6 15 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 07:20 UTC
15. 1.7 9 km NE of Round Valley, CA 19:03 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 15:46 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.