QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

Earthquake near Garnet, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Garnet in the 24 hours to 8:25 am PST (16:25 UTC). The last one was M 3.6, 60 km (37 mi) SSW, at 12:31 am PDT on 19 August 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 165 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Garnet

This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) west-southwest of Garnet, CA, at 7:19 pm PDT on 4 August 2019 (02:19 UTC), 15 km deep.

USGS: 10km W of Garnet, CA

18 km (11 mi) WNW of Cathedral City, CA · 128 km (80 mi) NNE of San Diego, CA

7:19 pm PDT, Aug 4, 2019 · · 15 km deep · released about 5.7 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Riverside County 63 kmSan Diego County 98 kmOrange County 107 kmSan Bernardino County 115 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
7:19 pm PDT on 4 August 2019 ()
Where
16 km (10 mi) west-southwest of Garnet, CA · earthquakes near Garnet
Magnitude
M 1.5 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Riverside County, 63 km ESE
Nearest mapped fault
San Andreas fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2656 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Garnet, 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Palm Springs, Cabazon, Desert Hot Springs, Morongo Valley, Idyllwild-Pine Cove, Idyllwild.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 29,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 32 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 39 km NNE of this epicentre
  2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 33 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 38 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 31 km ENE of this epicentre
  5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 31 km ENE of this epicentre

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 33.8952, -116.6493. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Riverside County, CA 63 km (39 mi) ESE earthquakes near Riverside County
San Diego County, CA 98 km (61 mi) S earthquakes near San Diego County
Orange County, CA 107 km (67 mi) WSW earthquakes near Orange County
San Bernardino County, CA 115 km (72 mi) NNE earthquakes near San Bernardino County
Imperial County, CA 153 km (95 mi) SE earthquakes near Imperial County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 22km NW of Yucca Valley, CA
  2. 1.7 7km ENE of Big Bear City, CA
  3. 1.6 7km NE of Moreno Valley, CA
  4. 2.0 8km SSE of Redlands, CA
  5. 1.7 7km SSE of Banning, CA
  6. 1.5 4km SE of Redlands, CA
  7. 1.9 8km SSE of Yucca Valley, CA
  8. 1.6 9km N of Banning, CA
  9. 2.0 12km N of Cabazon, CA
  10. 1.6 10km NNE of Cabazon, CA
  11. 3.4 10km NNE of Cabazon, CA
  12. 1.7 11km NNE of Cabazon, CA
  13. 2.2 3km WNW of Cabazon, CA
  14. 1.5 8km SSE of Yucca Valley, CA
  15. 1.7 4km S of Idyllwild, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.