QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

3km W of South El Monte, CA

· 17 km deep · released about 6.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Los Angeles County 23 kmOrange County 50 kmVentura County 103 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
Magnitude
M 1.6 (ml)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
30 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Los Angeles County, 23 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2196 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 30 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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.

Where

Epicentre 34.0480, -118.0802. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Los Angeles County, CA 23 km (15 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Orange County, CA 50 km (31 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Orange County
Ventura County, CA 103 km (64 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Ventura County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 4km ESE of Altadena, CA
  2. 1.8 1km ENE of Baldwin Hills, CA
  3. 1.9 4km NNW of Orange, CA
  4. 1.5 2km SW of La Habra, CA
  5. 1.6 2km SW of La Habra, CA
  6. 1.7 2km SE of Placentia, CA
  7. 2.7 2km SSE of Placentia, CA
  8. 1.6 3km W of South El Monte, CA
  9. 1.8 2km NNE of Villa Park, CA
  10. 2.8 6km SSW of Pearblossom, CA
  11. 1.6 6km SSW of Pearblossom, CA
  12. 1.7 3km W of Sylmar, CA
  13. 1.7 1km W of Brea, CA
  14. 1.8 1km SE of San Fernando, CA
  15. 1.9 6km ENE of Villa Park, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2020-09-19 — it released about 29,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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