4.6 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles California’s Mojave Desert

A 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit north of Barstow, California, Friday evening in the Mojave Desert.

“The epicenter was about 14 miles northeast of Barstow, in a remote area off Williams Well Road, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The tremor had a depth of about 2 miles,” according to the Daily Press.

“A second earthquake near the first hit at 7:09 p.m. with a magnitude of 2.9, according to USGS. Its depth was reported at nearly 1 ½ miles.”

In an email, San Bernardino County Sheriff spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said the earthquake felt like a “good jolt.”

No damages or injuries were reported.

Residents in the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Ridgecrest areas said they also felt the tremor, which reminded them of several quakes that followed two big ones last summer, according to KTLA.

The report continued:

Friday’s temblor was centered just over 50 miles southwest of Ridgecrest, but famed seismologist Lucy Jones said it wasn’t on the same fault. Instead, it ruptured about halfway between the fault involved in the Ridgecrest quakes and another one on which the 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake occurred in 1992.

However, Jones wrote that it was impossible to tell if Friday’s quake was a foreshadowing of a larger one.

“I spent many years looking at foreshocks to try to find something that made them different. Never found it. We will know if it’s one of the 5% that become a foreshock if something bigger happens.”

Friday, 49-year-old April Warren of Helendale said she was on her back porch with her boyfriend and their dog when the balcony on their two-story home began to shake.

“We looked at each other. I said, ‘earthquake?’ And then we felt a decent jolt,” she recalled, adding, “Our dog is still currently under the table.”

Raymond Ruiz, 45, of Victorville, told reporters he also felt the tremor.

“I’m sitting here having a nice glass of bourbon, and felt the shake. Looked at my glass like, man, this (is) some good stuff,” he concluded.