Earthquake near Yucca Valley, 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 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In Yucca Valley, 16 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: Yucca Valley 16 km, intensity II · Joshua Tree 18 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 180 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 83,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 59,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.2× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 180 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 4.3 on 2016-02-20 — about 480 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 39 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 7 km S of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 7.1 The 1999 Hector Mine, California Earthquake · 41 km NNE of this epicentre Oct 16, 1999
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 37 km W of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 35 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 32 km SSE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948

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 34.2602, -116.4282. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 34km N of Yucca Valley, CA 18:16 UTC
2. 1.5 12km N of Cabazon, CA 11:14 UTC
3. 2.0 15km SE of Joshua Tree, CA 14:06 UTC
4. 1.7 31km NNW of Twentynine Palms, CA 01:45 UTC
5. 1.8 6km ENE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 00:33 UTC
6. 1.8 6km ENE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 18:43 UTC
7. 3.2 12km ENE of Cabazon, CA 08:12 UTC
8. 1.6 9km N of Big Bear City, CA 13:03 UTC
9. 3.1 8km N of Cabazon, CA 14:10 UTC
10. 2.2 27km N of Yucca Valley, CA 15:09 UTC
11. 1.7 4km N of Big Bear City, CA 03:45 UTC
12. 2.7 12km E of Desert Hot Springs, CA 10:25 UTC
13. 2.0 8km ENE of Cabazon, CA 20:16 UTC
14. 1.8 23km N of Yucca Valley, CA 20:22 UTC
15. 1.5 11km SW of Morongo Valley, CA 14:59 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 05:16 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.