Earthquake near Morongo 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 20 km (12 mi) from the epicentre. In Morongo Valley, 19 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.

Likely felt in: Morongo Valley 19 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 20 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 190 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 80,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 57,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.1× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 190 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 870 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 38 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 33 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 41 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 13 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 45 km W of this epicentre Jul 23, 1923
5. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 45 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 23, 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 34.0955, -116.7737. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 11km SE of Valle Vista, CA 05:48 UTC
2. 1.5 3km SSE of Garnet, CA 05:22 UTC
3. 1.8 10km WNW of Big Bear Lake, CA 14:37 UTC
4. 2.3 10km WNW of Big Bear Lake, CA 21:31 UTC
5. 1.6 10km WNW of Big Bear Lake, CA 02:29 UTC
6. 1.6 7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 15:51 UTC
7. 2.5 9km SSE of Running Springs, CA 06:47 UTC
8. 1.8 8km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 09:10 UTC
9. 1.8 7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 07:54 UTC
10. 1.5 7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 06:41 UTC
11. 2.8 7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 06:36 UTC
12. 1.6 8km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 06:22 UTC
13. 3.8 7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 06:16 UTC
14. 1.5 4km SSE of Beaumont, CA 05:58 UTC
15. 1.9 3km ESE of Valle Vista, CA 16:09 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:44 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.