Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
37 km WSW of Tecopa, California
Yes. A magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 37 km WSW of Tecopa, California, at 7:28 am PDT on 20 September 2019 (14:28 UTC), 10 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- San Bernardino County, 104 km SSE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Southern Death Valley fault, 5 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 2611 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Fort Irwin, CA
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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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 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 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 4.2 on 2018-12-05 — about 4,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.0 Death Valley area, California · 47 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.9 Death Valley area, California · 47 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 35.7230, -116.6077. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Bernardino County, CA | 104 km (65 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near San Bernardino County |
| Inyo County, CA | 118 km (73 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Inyo County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
48 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.0 48 km WSW of Shoshone, CA
- 1.5 10 km NE of Tecopa, California
- 2.7 50 km WSW of Shoshone, CA
- 2.2 46 km NNW of Fort Irwin, CA
- 2.2 46km NNW of Fort Irwin, CA
- 1.7 41 km WSW of Shoshone, California
- 1.8 35 km WSW of Tecopa, CA
- 2.0 24km SSW of Tecopa, CA
- 1.6 48km E of Trona, CA
- 3.6 48km E of Trona, CA
- 1.6 25 km WNW of Shoshone, California
- 2.1 44km ENE of Trona, CA
- 2.5 41km NNW of Fort Irwin, CA
- 1.8 38km WSW of Tecopa, CA
- 1.6 38km NE of Trona, 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
- 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.