QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

24 km NW of Benton, California

· 9.5 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mono County 21 kmMineral County 63 kmEsmeralda County 93 kmTuolumne County 114 kmMariposa County 119 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
9.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mono County, 21 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1370 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.9880, -118.6597. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Mono County, CA 21 km (13 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mono County
Mineral County, NV 63 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Mineral County
Esmeralda County, NV 93 km (58 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Tuolumne County, CA 114 km (71 mi) E of here earthquakes near Tuolumne County
Mariposa County, CA 119 km (74 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mariposa County
Alpine County, CA 122 km (76 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Alpine County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 37km SSW of Qualeys Camp, NV
  2. 1.5 24 km E of Mono City, California
  3. 2.0 24km SE of Bodie, CA
  4. 1.5 37km SE of Bodie, CA
  5. 1.7 25 km S of Mina, Nevada
  6. 2.5 30 km ENE of Bridgeport, California
  7. 2.1 23 km NNW of Dyer, Nevada
  8. 1.7 13km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
  9. 2.2 30 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
  10. 1.5 30 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
  11. 1.7 30 km SSW of Mina, Nevada
  12. 2.6 California-Nevada border region
  13. 1.6 13km ESE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
  14. 1.8 10km WNW of Toms Place, CA
  15. 1.6 13km NW of Toms Place, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — it released about 1,400,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.