Earthquake near Rancho Palos Verdes, 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 Rancho Palos Verdes, 13 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: Rancho Palos Verdes 13 km, intensity II · Palos Verdes Estates 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 280 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 55,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 39,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.5× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 290 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 37 km E of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
2. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 43 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927
3. 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 36 km E of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
4. 5.2 13km S of Malibu Beach, CA · 42 km NW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1979
5. 5.1 The 1941 Torrance-Gardena, California Earthquakes (Second Event) · 22 km NNE of this epicentre Nov 14, 1941

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 33.6243, -118.3937. 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. 2.2 4 km S of Westminster, CA 14:03 UTC
2. 2.2 22 km WSW of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 21:45 UTC
3. 2.2 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 06:13 UTC
4. 3.2 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 06:03 UTC
5. 2.8 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 05:27 UTC
6. 1.8 20 km E of Avalon, CA 18:14 UTC
7. 1.9 25 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 14:48 UTC
8. 3.1 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 14:38 UTC
9. 2.3 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 12:03 UTC
10. 2.0 22 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 11:41 UTC
11. 3.1 21 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 11:34 UTC
12. 1.9 21 km W of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 07:49 UTC
13. 1.9 21 km S of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 07:06 UTC
14. 2.0 3 km ESE of Fountain Valley, CA 03:25 UTC
15. 2.1 4 km S of Long Beach, CA 19:50 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 07:42 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.