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 53 km (33 mi) from the epicentre. In Yucca Valley, 36 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: Yucca Valley 36 km, intensity II · Joshua Tree 37 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 38 km, intensity II · Morongo Valley 43 km, intensity II · Lucerne Valley 44 km, intensity II · Big Bear Lake 44 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.5 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 110,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,100× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,600× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.5 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.1× 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 4.3 on 2016-02-20 — about 30 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 · 26 km S of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 7.1 The 1999 Hector Mine, California Earthquake · 28 km NE of this epicentre Oct 16, 1999
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 40 km SW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 49 km SSW of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986
5. 5.8 3km NE of Yucca Valley, California · 34 km SSE 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 34.4302, -116.4898. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.1 5km ESE of Yucca Valley, CA 03:39 UTC
2. 1.6 11km ENE of Desert Hot Springs, CA 00:40 UTC
3. 2.3 23km NW of Ludlow, CA 12:15 UTC
4. 1.6 11km WNW of Yucca Valley, CA 01:05 UTC
5. 1.8 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 08:36 UTC
6. 1.5 12km WNW of Morongo Valley, CA 06:00 UTC
7. 1.8 11km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 12:57 UTC
8. 2.1 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 11:57 UTC
9. 2.3 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 11:51 UTC
10. 1.9 11km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 11:42 UTC
11. 1.7 11km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 11:42 UTC
12. 3.5 11km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 11:41 UTC
13. 2.1 21km SSW of Ludlow, CA 15:48 UTC
14. 1.6 8km N of Big Bear City, CA 19:35 UTC
15. 3.0 17km NNE of Lucerne Valley, CA 14:50 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 18:13 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.