QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

16km WNW of Malibu, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ventura County 38 kmLos Angeles County 68 kmSanta Barbara County 112 kmOrange County 118 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Ventura County, 38 km NNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2166 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 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 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 34.0410, -118.9752. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Ventura County, CA 38 km (24 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Los Angeles County, CA 68 km (42 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Santa Barbara County, CA 112 km (70 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County
Orange County, CA 118 km (73 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Orange County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 19km S of Malibu, CA
  2. 1.9 6km WSW of Malibu Beach, CA
  3. 1.5 1km SE of Marina del Rey, CA
  4. 1.5 18km S of Malibu Beach, CA
  5. 2.3 22km SSE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  6. 1.7 16km S of Malibu Beach, CA
  7. 1.9 19km S of Camarillo, CA
  8. 1.8 8km NW of Malibu, CA
  9. 2.1 20km SSE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  10. 1.9 1km W of Piru, CA
  11. 1.9 6km W of Manhattan Beach, CA
  12. 2.1 6km SSW of Agoura Hills, CA
  13. 1.7 7km WSW of Malibu, CA
  14. 3.0 3km E of Simi Valley, CA
  15. 1.5 19km S of Malibu Beach, 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 4.0 on 2020-01-02 — it released about 5,600 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.