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 18 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In Morongo Valley, 10 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 10 km, intensity II · Desert Hot Springs 15 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 57,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 620 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 37 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 32 km NE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 38 km SW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 29 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 32 km E of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 31 km E of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948

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 33.9835, -116.6620. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 10km SSE of Idyllwild, CA 11:49 UTC
2. 2.0 6km W of Calimesa, CA 21:43 UTC
3. 1.9 10km SW of Idyllwild, CA 21:01 UTC
4. 1.7 16km S of Joshua Tree, CA 16:12 UTC
5. 1.6 6km NE of San Jacinto, CA 02:50 UTC
6. 1.6 10km N of Banning, CA 18:34 UTC
7. 2.2 13km WNW of Anza, CA 19:03 UTC
8. 1.8 10km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 18:59 UTC
9. 1.9 6km NW of Anza, CA 16:49 UTC
10. 1.5 5km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 12:37 UTC
11. 1.5 8km NW of Anza, CA 06:35 UTC
12. 1.5 11km SSW of Morongo Valley, CA 19:37 UTC
13. 2.1 6km SE of Valle Vista, CA 23:57 UTC
14. 2.0 4km NNW of Green Acres, CA 09:07 UTC
15. 1.6 10km E of Yucaipa, CA 06:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:02 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.