Earthquake near Yucca 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Yucca Valley, 3 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 3 km, intensity II · Joshua Tree 10 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.3 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 1,600,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.3 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 18,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 33 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 12 km N of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 40 km WNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 17 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 14 km SSE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
5. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 21 km WSW of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986

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 34.0932, -116.4115. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 2.3 9km NE of Indio, CA 19:31 UTC
2. 2.4 26km NNW of Twentynine Palms, CA 03:04 UTC
3. 2.2 13km NNE of Indio, CA 03:01 UTC
4. 1.5 6km NNW of Yucca Valley, CA 18:32 UTC
5. 1.9 6km NW of Banning, CA 09:37 UTC
6. 2.4 7km N of Big Bear City, CA 14:50 UTC
7. 1.9 10 km NNW of Banning, CA 01:20 UTC
8. 1.7 40km SW of Ludlow, CA 01:39 UTC
9. 1.8 6 km SE of Big Bear Lake, CA 23:39 UTC
10. 1.5 5 km N of Yucca Valley, CA 12:21 UTC
11. 2.5 4km N of Yucca Valley, CA 11:49 UTC
12. 1.6 13km NNE of Thousand Palms, CA 23:00 UTC
13. 1.6 9km NE of Indio, CA 02:27 UTC
14. 2.2 13km NE of Yucaipa, CA 10:45 UTC
15. 2.1 7km E of Cabazon, CA 01:38 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:32 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.