Earthquake near Apple Valley, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Apple 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Victorville, Spring Valley Lake, Silver Lakes, Lucerne Valley, Adelanto, Barstow Heights.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 900,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 80× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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 7,400 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 5.6 7km ENE of Running Springs, CA · 44 km S of this epicentre Oct 16, 1999
2. 5.3 Near San Bernardino, California · 48 km S of this epicentre Sep 20, 1907
3. 5.3 6km WNW of Big Bear Lake, CA · 43 km SSE of this epicentre Aug 29, 1943
4. 5.3 1km N of Big Bear Lake, California · 46 km SSE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
5. 5.3 10km NNW of Big Bear City, California · 39 km SSE of this epicentre Nov 27, 1992

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 34.6332, -117.1282. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 9km NE of Lake Arrowhead, CA 04:46 UTC
2. 1.7 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 03:53 UTC
3. 2.0 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 00:53 UTC
4. 1.7 36km ENE of Lucerne Valley, CA 18:15 UTC
5. 1.6 16km NNE of Apple Valley, CA 19:51 UTC
6. 2.3 26km ESE of Boron, CA 11:32 UTC
7. 2.4 27km ESE of Boron, CA 11:32 UTC
8. 2.5 2km NNE of Lake Arrowhead, CA 19:58 UTC
9. 2.8 12km NE of Barstow, CA 02:57 UTC
10. 1.9 10km N of Big Bear City, CA 19:40 UTC
11. 1.9 10km NE of Big Bear City, CA 05:21 UTC
12. 1.7 10km NE of Big Bear City, CA 16:53 UTC
13. 1.6 10km NE of Big Bear City, CA 14:21 UTC
14. 2.9 10km NE of Big Bear City, CA 02:37 UTC
15. 1.7 10km NE of Big Bear City, CA 01:01 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:01 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.