Earthquake near Joshua Tree, 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 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Joshua Tree, 14 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Sky Valley, Desert Edge, Yucca Valley, Garnet, Desert Hot Springs, Thousand Palms.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 24 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 640,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 450,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 40× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 24 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 6,900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 26 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 23 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 6 km S of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
3. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 3 km SSW of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
4. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 26 km W of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986
5. 5.8 3km NE of Yucca Valley, California · 15 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992

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 34.0123, -116.3222. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.4 10km NNW of Idyllwild, CA 08:44 UTC
2. 3.5 10km NNW of Idyllwild, CA 07:39 UTC
3. 1.7 5km N of Cabazon, CA 14:32 UTC
4. 2.9 13km N of Indio, CA 16:30 UTC
5. 1.9 10km S of Big Bear City, CA 03:57 UTC
6. 1.8 11km NNE of Banning, CA 03:10 UTC
7. 1.7 17km NNE of Indio, CA 13:54 UTC
8. 1.9 7km ESE of Cabazon, CA 17:11 UTC
9. 2.2 24km ENE of Thermal, CA 18:59 UTC
10. 1.9 24km ENE of Thermal, CA 02:48 UTC
11. 2.0 23km ENE of Thermal, CA 01:08 UTC
12. 2.0 24km ENE of Thermal, CA 22:36 UTC
13. 1.6 24km ENE of Thermal, CA 21:34 UTC
14. 1.6 3km WSW of Yucca Valley, CA 19:38 UTC
15. 1.5 13km NNE of Thousand Palms, CA 11:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:31 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.