 According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and of it (3.04%) is water.Ridgecrest is located in Indian Wells Valley, which is a southern extension of Owens Valley, broken up by the volcanic Coso Range.The area, associated with the Eastern California Shear Zone, has in the past experienced numerous earthquake swarms, groups of several thousand quakes under magnitude 6.0 or so, often with no obvious mainshock.