Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, 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 49 km (30 mi) from the epicentre. In Mammoth Lakes, 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: 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,800× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.7× 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 5.2 on 2020-04-11 — about 840 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 47 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 50 km SSE of this epicentre Jul 21, 1986
2. 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 47 km NE of this epicentre Jan 30, 1934
3. 6.1 11 km WNW of Aspen Springs, California · 42 km SSW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
4. 6.1 8 km W of Aspen Springs, California · 45 km SSW of this epicentre May 25, 1980
5. 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 42 km S 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 37.9438, -118.6797. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 39 km SSW of Qualeys Camp, NV 13:34 UTC
2. 2.4 39 km SSW of Qualeys Camp, NV 09:36 UTC
3. 1.9 7 km SSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA 12:54 UTC
4. 1.7 28 km SSW of Mina, Nevada 01:18 UTC
5. 2.6 14 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 11:24 UTC
6. 1.6 15 km SE of Mammoth Lakes, CA 03:05 UTC
7. 1.6 14 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 10:50 UTC
8. 1.6 25 km SSW of Mina, Nevada 02:11 UTC
9. 1.9 35 km NNE of Benton, California 23:48 UTC
10. 1.7 11 km W of Toms Place, CA 13:48 UTC
11. 1.9 31 km SSW of Mina, Nevada 06:27 UTC
12. 1.7 28 km SSW of Mina, Nevada 11:54 UTC
13. 2.6 14 km WSW of Toms Place, CA 01:54 UTC
14. 1.6 15 km ESE of Bridgeport, California 00:54 UTC
15. 1.9 29 km SE of Bodie, CA 11:17 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 20:09 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.