Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Avalon, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Avalon in the 24 hours to 6:12 am PST (14:12 UTC). The last one was M 3.5, 38 km (23 mi) ESE, at 1:22 pm PDT on 5 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 126 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Avalon
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 23 km (14 mi) east-northeast of Avalon, CA, at 4:46 pm PDT on 13 March 2022 (23:46 UTC), 2.4 km deep.
USGS: 23km ENE of Avalon, CA
68 km (43 mi) SSE of Los Angeles, CA · 26 km (16 mi) SW of Newport Beach, CA
- When
- 4:46 pm PDT on 13 March 2022 ()
- Where
- 23 km (14 mi) east-northeast of Avalon, CA · earthquakes near Avalon
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 2.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Orange County, 40 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Palos Verdes fault, 5 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1704 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Avalon, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 Avalon, 23 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: Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 970,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 680,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 61× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 4.3 on 2021-09-18 — about 5,100 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 23 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 22 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.1 The 1941 Torrance-Gardena, California Earthquakes (Second Event) · 40 km NNW of this epicentre
- 5.0 2km ENE of Westminster, CA · 37 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.0 2 km NE of Carson, California · 46 km NNW of this epicentre
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 33.4540, -118.1173. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange County, CA | 40 km (25 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Orange County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 84 km (52 mi) | N | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| Ventura County, CA | 138 km (85 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
44 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 4km S of Westminster, CA
- 1.9 17km NE of Avalon, CA
- 1.8 19km NNE of Avalon, CA
- 1.8 8km SE of San Pedro, CA
- 2.2 22km SSW of Newport Beach, CA
- 1.9 4km NW of Villa Park, CA
- 1.7 1km SSE of Carson, CA
- 1.8 4km W of Seal Beach, CA
- 2.5 20km S of San Pedro, CA
- 2.3 16km SSE of San Pedro, CA
- 2.1 1km SSE of Long Beach, CA
- 1.6 0km N of Carson, CA
- 3.5 23km SSW of Newport Beach, CA
- 2.7 23km SSW of Newport Beach, CA
- 1.6 3km SSE of Gardena, CA
Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . 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.