QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.2mw

1km SE of Sylmar, CA

· 8.8 km deep · released about 27 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Los Angeles County 20 kmVentura County 64 kmOrange County 93 kmKern County 119 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 4.2 (mw)
Depth
8.8 km below the surface
Felt
16007 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity VI (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
Los Angeles County, 20 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 899 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 16007 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 27 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 6,200× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 280× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.2 about 27 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 57× more

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 34.3017, -118.4383. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Los Angeles County, CA 20 km (12 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Ventura County, CA 64 km (40 mi) E of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Orange County, CA 93 km (57 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Orange County
Kern County, CA 119 km (74 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Kern County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 7km SSE of Littlerock, CA
  2. 2.1 6km SSW of Pearblossom, CA
  3. 1.7 15km N of Castaic, CA
  4. 2.5 2km ESE of Granada Hills, CA
  5. 1.6 4km W of South El Monte, CA
  6. 1.9 1km S of Malibu, CA
  7. 2.3 3km WSW of South El Monte, CA
  8. 1.6 3km W of South El Monte, CA
  9. 1.8 3km W of South El Monte, CA
  10. 1.6 3km W of South El Monte, CA
  11. 2.1 3km WSW of South El Monte, CA
  12. 1.6 3km WSW of South El Monte, CA
  13. 1.9 4km W of South El Monte, CA
  14. 4.5 3km WSW of South El Monte, CA
  15. 2.1 2km S of Malibu, 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.