Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
17 km N of Benton, California
Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 17 km N of Benton, California, at 12:18 am PST on 8 December 2022 (08:18 UTC), 10 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 10 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mono County, 35 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- White Mountains fault, 9 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 1436 days 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 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 5 km (3 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 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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 5.2 on 2020-04-11 — about 290,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 40 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 49 km S of this epicentre
- 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 36 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.1 Near Tonopah Junction, Nevada · 43 km E of this epicentre
- 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 50 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.0 Mammoth Lakes area, California · 50 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 37.9753, -118.4850. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mono County, CA | 35 km (22 mi) | W | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Mineral County, NV | 60 km (38 mi) | N | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Esmeralda County, NV | 78 km (48 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Esmeralda County |
| Lyon County, NV | 132 km (82 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Alpine County, CA | 135 km (84 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
| Madera County, CA | 140 km (87 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Madera County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
35 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 29 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
- 1.6 11km ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
- 1.9 Nevada
- 2.0 28 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
- 2.0 26 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
- 2.7 13km E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
- 1.6 25 km S of Hawthorne, Nevada
- 1.6 22 km S of Mina, Nevada
- 1.7 13 km NW of Benton, California
- 2.3 26km SE of Bodie, CA
- 2.2 31 km N of Dyer, Nevada
- 1.6 30 km N of Dyer, Nevada
- 1.7 29 km SSE of Mina, Nevada
- 2.4 California-Nevada border region
- 1.5 26 km NNW of Benton, California
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.