29 km NE of Benton, California

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 31 km (19 mi) from the epicentre. 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 680 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 22,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 16,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 680 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 34 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 30, 1934
2. 6.1 Near Tonopah Junction, Nevada · 20 km E of this epicentre Nov 21, 1910
3. 5.6 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Foreshock) · 37 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 30, 1934
4. 5.6 37 km N of Dyer, Nevada · 13 km E of this epicentre Aug 9, 1943
5. 5.6 24 km WSW of Dyer, Nevada · 43 km SSW of this epicentre Jul 21, 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 37.9929, -118.2282. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 9 km NNE of Benton, California 14:37 UTC
2. 2.7 28 km NW of Benton, California 06:13 UTC
3. 1.7 9 km WNW of Silver Peak, Nevada 21:13 UTC
4. 1.9 34km E of Lee Vining, CA 22:07 UTC
5. 2.7 27 km NW of Benton, California 13:43 UTC
6. 2.5 28 km NW of Benton, California 12:31 UTC
7. 1.7 34 km ENE of Lee Vining, California 09:43 UTC
8. 1.5 13 km WNW of Benton, California 21:20 UTC
9. 1.5 9 km WNW of Silver Peak, Nevada 20:32 UTC
10. 1.6 34 km NE of Benton, California 11:53 UTC
11. 1.5 24 km SSW of Mina, Nevada 22:55 UTC
12. 1.6 28 km NW of Benton, California 18:42 UTC
13. 1.5 31 km NW of Benton, California 17:33 UTC
14. 2.1 20 km NW of Benton, California 12:22 UTC
15. 1.7 28 km NE of Benton, California 15:12 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:18 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.