Earthquake near Santa Monica, 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 39 km (24 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Monica, 3 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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: Santa Monica 3 km, intensity III · Inglewood 17 km, intensity II · Manhattan Beach 19 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 20 km, intensity II · Lawndale 22 km, intensity II · Westmont 22 km, intensity II · Redondo Beach 23 km, intensity II · Agoura 24 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 290,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.2× more

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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 21 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.6 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, California · 45 km NNE of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 41 km E of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 28 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
5. 5.8 10km SSW of Agua Dulce, CA · 45 km NNE of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971

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 34.0263, -118.5193. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.1 5km WNW of Willowbrook, CA 08:28 UTC
2. 1.6 4km N of Gardena, CA 07:12 UTC
3. 1.6 11km S of San Pedro, CA 04:38 UTC
4. 1.8 3km WSW of East Los Angeles, CA 07:04 UTC
5. 1.9 17km S of Malibu Beach, CA 12:07 UTC
6. 1.6 3km SE of Malibu Beach, CA 05:13 UTC
7. 1.7 2km NE of La Canada Flintridge, CA 00:24 UTC
8. 1.5 1km NNW of Florence-Graham, CA 18:43 UTC
9. 1.6 10km SSW of Malibu, CA 13:27 UTC
10. 1.9 3km SE of Chatsworth, CA 19:10 UTC
11. 2.5 8km SSE of San Pedro, CA 13:50 UTC
12. 1.5 4km WNW of Willowbrook, CA 12:32 UTC
13. 1.5 4km S of Highland Park, CA 11:08 UTC
14. 1.9 5km NW of Westwood, CA 07:35 UTC
15. 3.6 5km NW of Westwood, CA 06:20 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:04 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.