Earthquake near La Quinta, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 28 km (17 mi) from the epicentre. In La Quinta, 23 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: La Quinta 23 km, intensity II · Anza 25 km, intensity II · Borrego Springs 25 km, intensity II · Palm Desert 27 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 570 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 27,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 570 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 2016-06-10 — about 3,200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 45 km SE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
2. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 38 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
3. 6.0 16km WSW of Oasis, CA · 18 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 25, 1937
4. 5.7 Eastern San Diego County, California · 43 km SE of this epicentre Sep 30, 1916
5. 5.5 8km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA · 43 km SE of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954

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 33.4795, -116.4218. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 23km SSW of La Quinta, CA 06:32 UTC
2. 1.6 20km ESE of Anza, CA 01:35 UTC
3. 1.9 24km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA 00:25 UTC
4. 1.6 16km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 20:49 UTC
5. 2.0 23km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA 16:40 UTC
6. 1.6 6km ENE of Valle Vista, CA 14:56 UTC
7. 1.8 21km ESE of Anza, CA 14:55 UTC
8. 1.6 23km ESE of Anza, CA 11:43 UTC
9. 1.6 18km ESE of Anza, CA 10:02 UTC
10. 1.6 23km ESE of Anza, CA 05:36 UTC
11. 1.7 22km ESE of Anza, CA 05:34 UTC
12. 1.5 22km ESE of Anza, CA 04:44 UTC
13. 1.7 23km ESE of Anza, CA 04:37 UTC
14. 1.9 23km ESE of Anza, CA 03:07 UTC
15. 2.2 23km SSW of La Quinta, CA 03:04 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:36 UTC. 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.