Earthquake near Morongo 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 31 km (19 mi) from the epicentre. In Morongo Valley, 5 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: Morongo Valley 5 km, intensity III · Desert Hot Springs 15 km, intensity II · Yucca Valley 20 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 25 km, intensity II · Banning 26 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 31 km, intensity II · Joshua Tree 31 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 720 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 21,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 720 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 4.4 on 2016-01-06 — about 160 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 37 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 25 km NE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 44 km SW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 25 km NW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 31 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 29 km ESE 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 34.0447, -116.6325. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 2km NE of Redlands, CA 19:12 UTC
2. 1.5 10km N of Cabazon, CA 03:51 UTC
3. 1.7 9km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 01:23 UTC
4. 2.0 5km S of Idyllwild, CA 18:14 UTC
5. 2.1 5km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 06:22 UTC
6. 1.8 5km S of Idyllwild, CA 00:17 UTC
7. 2.4 5km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 20:39 UTC
8. 1.7 7km N of Big Bear City, CA 18:45 UTC
9. 1.5 9km NE of Big Bear City, CA 04:28 UTC
10. 2.3 5km SSE of Mentone, CA 06:38 UTC
11. 1.6 10km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 22:20 UTC
12. 1.9 11km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 22:12 UTC
13. 1.8 3km SE of San Jacinto, CA 00:32 UTC
14. 1.7 4km SE of San Jacinto, CA 00:32 UTC
15. 2.0 4km SE of San Jacinto, CA 05:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:22 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.