Earthquake near Desert Hot Springs, 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 28 km (17 mi) from the epicentre. In Desert Hot Springs, 7 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: Desert Hot Springs 7 km, intensity III · Yucca Valley 12 km, intensity III · Morongo Valley 13 km, intensity III · Joshua Tree 19 km, intensity II · Thousand Palms 21 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 22 km, intensity II · Cathedral City 25 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 28,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 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 300 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 30 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 21 km N of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 41 km WNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 13 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 11 km ESE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
5. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 15 km W 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 34.0068, -116.4455. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 3.2 1km NE of Cabazon, CA 00:53 UTC
2. 1.8 11km WSW of Morongo Valley, CA 10:25 UTC
3. 2.8 36km N of Yucca Valley, CA 02:46 UTC
4. 2.5 10km S of Idyllwild, CA 00:18 UTC
5. 2.0 34km N of Yucca Valley, CA 16:34 UTC
6. 2.1 11km NE of Indio, CA 01:23 UTC
7. 1.6 4km ESE of Yucca Valley, CA 06:27 UTC
8. 1.7 6km S of Yucca Valley, CA 17:55 UTC
9. 1.6 6km SE of Valle Vista, CA 18:02 UTC
10. 2.4 11km NE of Cabazon, CA 06:59 UTC
11. 1.6 12km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 12:54 UTC
12. 1.8 10km SSE of Idyllwild, CA 11:49 UTC
13. 1.9 10km SW of Idyllwild, CA 21:01 UTC
14. 1.7 16km S of Joshua Tree, CA 16:12 UTC
15. 2.0 16km NE of Coachella, CA 12:23 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:31 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.