QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

27km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 51 kmImperial County 84 kmRiverside County 93 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.8 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Diego County, 51 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3258 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 16 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 970,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 680,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 61× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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.

Where

Epicentre 32.9203, -116.2417. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 51 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Imperial County, CA 84 km (52 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County
Riverside County, CA 93 km (58 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Riverside County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 10km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 1.7 24km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  3. 1.5 24km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  4. 1.8 9km SE of Borrego Springs, CA
  5. 2.5 12km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
  6. 2.0 11km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  7. 1.7 12km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  8. 2.0 27km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  9. 2.0 2km SSE of Julian, CA
  10. 1.7 11km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  11. 1.6 12km SSW of Salton City, CA
  12. 2.2 4km NNW of Julian, CA
  13. 2.5 18km N of Ocotillo, CA
  14. 2.1 24km WSW of Westmorland, CA
  15. 1.6 20km ESE of Julian, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.0 on 2016-07-31 — it released about 2,100 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.