Earthquake near Yucca Valley, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 67 km (42 mi) from the epicentre. In Yucca Valley, 4 km away, the estimate is intensity IV (light). 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 4 km, intensity IV · Joshua Tree 12 km, intensity III · Morongo Valley 17 km, intensity III · Desert Hot Springs 21 km, intensity III · Twentynine Palms 36 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 36 km, intensity II · Thousand Palms 37 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 39 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.4 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 50,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.4 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 7.2× 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 24 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 36 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 6 km N of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 36 km W of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 24 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 21 km SSE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
5. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 22 km SW 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 34.1468, -116.4442. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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 7km NW of Big Bear City, CA 06:48 UTC
2. 1.6 7km NW of Big Bear City, CA 06:45 UTC
3. 1.8 27km NE of Indio, CA 06:08 UTC
4. 1.9 14km NE of Big Bear City, CA 16:43 UTC
5. 1.5 25km N of Yucca Valley, CA 23:04 UTC
6. 2.0 9km S of Joshua Tree, CA 03:39 UTC
7. 1.8 17km S of Big Bear City, CA 07:02 UTC
8. 2.2 13km NNE of Cabazon, CA 02:39 UTC
9. 1.6 19km NNE of Indio, CA 06:39 UTC
10. 1.8 19km NNE of Indio, CA 05:38 UTC
11. 3.1 3km NNW of Yucca Valley, CA 18:59 UTC
12. 1.9 26km N of Yucca Valley, CA 00:41 UTC
13. 1.7 6km ESE of Cabazon, CA 22:08 UTC
14. 1.7 27km NE of Indio, CA 02:48 UTC
15. 1.7 27km NE of Indio, CA 02:35 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:57 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.