Earthquake hits off Los Angeles and ground shakes Sunday morning

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Los Angeles on Sunday morning.

The earthquake occurred at 8:40 a.m., with the epicenter located about 4 miles west of Hermosa Beach, according to the USGS.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 6 miles.

The shaking was detected throughout the South Bay, and the USGS received hundreds of “Did you feel it?” messages. reports following the earthquake. The agency’s preliminary intensity rating for the event was III, indicating weak shaking.

The earthquake comes as Southern California continues to experience periodic seismic activity, with several small earthquakes recorded in the region in recent weeks.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries following Sunday morning’s earthquake.

The USGS initially rated the earthquake at a magnitude of 3.5, with its examined location placing the event offshore, near the South Bay.

No tsunami warning was issued.

Kelsey Goldbach, a Santa Monica resident who recently returned to California, said it was her first earthquake in the city.

“I’m working from home today and I was sitting at my desk. I felt a rumble, like I thought a truck was going by, and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s an earthquake,'” she told the California Post. “Luckily nothing fell in my house and I didn’t have any Wi-Fi issues, which was great, but it was just a bit of a rough start to the morning.”

These latest tremors follow two earthquakes that hit California earlier Sunday morning. A magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck shortly after 7:20 a.m., followed by a magnitude 2.6 temblor about 20 minutes later, with shaking reportedly felt in parts of the South Bay and beyond, according to the USGS.

These back-to-back earthquakes come amid a recent period of seismic activity across California. More than 60 small-magnitude earthquakes were recorded in Southern California on a recent Saturday, most of them below magnitude 2.0, according to the USGS.

Recent activity includes a magnitude 3.1 earthquake near Compton on September 17, which was felt in Long Beach, Downey and Paramount, as well as a magnitude 3.2 earthquake near the same area earlier this month.

Other recent earthquakes have struck offshore and further north, including two quakes southeast of Catalina Island that occurred within minutes of each other and another magnitude 3.4 quake that shook parts of the San Francisco Bay area.

Although the recent quakes have been relatively small, they come as scientists continue to warn that California’s major fault systems are capable of producing much more powerful quakes.

Caltech seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones modeled a magnitude 7.8 rupture along the southern San Andreas Fault, a scenario that could produce prolonged, destructive shaking in Southern California and severely disrupt transportation and critical infrastructure.

Research from the University of Bern also studied seismic stresses around Cajon Pass, where the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults meet. The researchers studied the area as a potential “seismic gateway” that could influence the propagation of a future rupture across the two fault systems.

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