Small earthquake strikes area of eastern California shaken by recent sequence of tremors

Small earthquake strikes eastern California

LONE PINE, Calif. — An earthquake has struck a remote area of eastern California that has been shaken by a sequence of tremors in the past week.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 struck at 9:25 p.m. Thursday, six miles south of Keeler and 17 miles southeast of Lone Pine in the arid Owens Valley below the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.

An Inyo County sheriff’s dispatcher says she felt some light shaking from the quake, but received no calls and no reports of injuries or damage.

The area about 180 miles north of Los Angeles has been rocked by a series of quakes since last week — the largest a magnitude-5.2 which struck last Friday.

On the Net: earthquake.usgs.gov/