QuakeIndex

chemical explosion · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

5km ENE of Coto De Caza, CA

· 0.0 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 23 kmLos Angeles County 93 kmSan Diego County 97 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
0.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 23 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2984 days ago

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

USGS catalogues this as chemical explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 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 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 33.6205, -117.5382. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Orange County, CA 23 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Orange County
Los Angeles County, CA 93 km (57 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
San Diego County, CA 97 km (60 mi) NW of here earthquakes near San Diego County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 8km W of Newport Beach, CA
  2. 2.4 7km W of Newport Beach, CA
  3. 2.1 9km ENE of North Tustin, CA
  4. 1.8 8km E of Yorba Linda, CA
  5. 1.9 2km WNW of Orange, CA
  6. 1.7 3km W of Orange, CA
  7. 1.9 5km SE of Home Gardens, CA
  8. 2.0 14km NW of Fallbrook, CA
  9. 1.9 9km ENE of Villa Park, CA
  10. 1.6 4km SE of Home Gardens, CA
  11. 1.5 2km SE of Home Gardens, CA
  12. 1.8 3km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  13. 1.6 26km SW of Dana Point, CA
  14. 2.5 2km NE of Villa Park, CA
  15. 1.9 4km SE of Home Gardens, 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.

On USGS

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