Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.7ml
Earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, CA
Yes. A magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded 48 km (30 mi) north-northeast of Mammoth Lakes, CA, at 2:33 am PDT on 20 October 2026 (09:33 UTC), 13 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 32 km SE of Bodie, CA
- When
- 2:33 am PDT on 20 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 48 km (30 mi) north-northeast of Mammoth Lakes, CA · earthquakes near Mammoth Lakes
- Magnitude
- M 2.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 13 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mono County, 19 km SW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Huntoon Valley fault system, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 hours ago
Earthquake alerts for Mammoth Lakes, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Mammoth Lakes, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. In Mammoth Lakes, 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 320 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 48,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 34,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.7 about 320 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 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — about 24,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 42 km NE of this epicentre
- 6.0 7 km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 42 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.9 8 km NNE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 40 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 35 km W of this epicentre
- 5.7 12 km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, California · 47 km SSW 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 38.0317, -118.7217. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mono County, CA | 19 km (12 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Mineral County, NV | 60 km (37 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Esmeralda County, NV | 100 km (62 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Esmeralda County |
| Tuolumne County, CA | 109 km (68 mi) | W | earthquakes near Tuolumne County |
| Alpine County, CA | 115 km (71 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
| Mariposa County, CA | 116 km (72 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Mariposa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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
- 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.