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 40 km (25 mi) from the epicentre. In Yucca Valley, 3 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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 III · Joshua Tree 12 km, intensity III · Morongo Valley 16 km, intensity III · Desert Hot Springs 21 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 36 km, intensity II · Twentynine Palms 36 km, intensity II · Thousand Palms 36 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 1,200 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 290,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,200 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.2× 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 140 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 35 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 7 km N of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 36 km WNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 23 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 20 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 34.1400, -116.4430. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 8km SSE of Banning, CA 17:15 UTC
2. 1.6 15km NNE of Banning, CA 23:37 UTC
3. 1.5 39km NE of Big Bear City, CA 09:31 UTC
4. 1.5 10km N of Cabazon, CA 10:10 UTC
5. 1.7 6km NE of Cabazon, CA 02:29 UTC
6. 1.8 13km SE of Big Bear City, CA 19:13 UTC
7. 2.2 13km SE of Big Bear City, CA 19:00 UTC
8. 1.7 13km SE of Big Bear City, CA 15:52 UTC
9. 1.5 13km SE of Big Bear City, CA 15:08 UTC
10. 1.5 13km SE of Big Bear City, CA 07:44 UTC
11. 1.6 7km NW of Big Bear City, CA 06:25 UTC
12. 1.9 14km S of Joshua Tree, CA 14:08 UTC
13. 1.6 9km SW of Morongo Valley, CA 02:46 UTC
14. 2.1 11km NE of Yucaipa, CA 07:38 UTC
15. 1.6 12km ESE of Lucerne Valley, CA 05:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:45 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.