Earthquake near Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

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 15 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Rancho Palos Verdes, 21 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: Rolling Hills, Avalon, Rolling Hills Estates, Lomita, Palos Verdes Estates, Long Beach.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 23 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 660,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 470,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 42× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 23 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 3,500 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 36 km ENE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
2. 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 35 km ENE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
3. 5.2 13km S of Malibu Beach, CA · 49 km NW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1979
4. 5.1 The 1941 Torrance-Gardena, California Earthquakes (Second Event) · 28 km NNE of this epicentre Nov 14, 1941
5. 5.0 2km ENE of Westminster, CA · 43 km ENE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933

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 33.5592, -118.3738. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 21 km SSW of Seal Beach, CA 11:29 UTC
2. 2.3 2 km SW of Baldwin Hills, CA 13:49 UTC
3. 2.3 6 km SW of Marina del Rey, CA 15:17 UTC
4. 1.5 5 km WSW of Marina del Rey, CA 09:16 UTC
5. 1.7 2 km SSW of Baldwin Hills, CA 10:46 UTC
6. 1.5 3 km SW of Baldwin Hills, CA 05:22 UTC
7. 1.7 2 km ESE of Rossmoor, CA 14:23 UTC
8. 2.0 3 km SW of Culver City, CA 13:15 UTC
9. 1.5 3 km SSW of Willowbrook, CA 05:28 UTC
10. 1.8 1 km SSW of Inglewood, CA 07:50 UTC
11. 2.6 27 km WSW of Dana Point, CA 14:07 UTC
12. 2.6 27 km WSW of Dana Point, CA 20:44 UTC
13. 2.8 27 km WSW of Dana Point, CA 04:05 UTC
14. 2.1 3 km NNE of San Pedro, CA 19:31 UTC
15. 1.6 1 km SSE of Inglewood, CA 11:33 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:25 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.