Earthquake near Joshua Tree, 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 19 km (12 mi) from the epicentre. In Joshua Tree, 20 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: Sky Valley, Desert Edge, Thousand Palms, Twentynine Palms, Garnet, Yucca Valley.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 130 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 110,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 80,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.2× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 130 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 4.2 on 2019-07-22 — about 450 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 26 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 33 km NW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 10 km W of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
3. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 11 km W of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
4. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 36 km W of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986
5. 5.8 3km NE of Yucca Valley, California · 25 km NW 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 33.9715, -116.2140. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 6 km W of Morongo Valley, CA 21:17 UTC
2. 2.2 19 km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 04:01 UTC
3. 2.9 20 km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 02:43 UTC
4. 1.5 12 km WSW of Morongo Valley, CA 05:15 UTC
5. 2.3 6 km W of Morongo Valley, CA 16:30 UTC
6. 2.8 11 km E of Desert Hot Springs, CA 15:01 UTC
7. 2.8 16 km NE of Coachella, CA 04:58 UTC
8. 1.6 22 km N of Yucca Valley, CA 04:50 UTC
9. 1.6 25 km N of Yucca Valley, CA 21:07 UTC
10. 2.1 26 km NE of Thermal, CA 04:56 UTC
11. 2.4 16 km NE of Coachella, CA 05:12 UTC
12. 2.0 22 km NE of Thermal, CA 22:57 UTC
13. 1.8 22 km NE of Thermal, CA 17:30 UTC
14. 2.2 22 km NE of Thermal, CA 17:20 UTC
15. 2.1 22 km NE of Thermal, CA 17:20 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:55 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.