Earthquake near Borrego Springs, 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Borrego Springs, 24 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: La Quinta, Anza, Vista Santa Rosa, Palm Desert, Indian Wells.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 620,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 440,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 39× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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 5.2 on 2016-06-10 — about 75,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 44 km SE of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
2. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 37 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
3. 6.0 16km WSW of Oasis, CA · 18 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 25, 1937
4. 5.7 Eastern San Diego County, California · 42 km SE of this epicentre Sep 30, 1916
5. 5.5 8km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA · 42 km SE of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954

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 33.4638, -116.4270. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 6km NW of Aguanga, CA 04:34 UTC
2. 2.0 10km NE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 07:03 UTC
3. 1.7 20km ESE of Anza, CA 04:00 UTC
4. 1.6 14km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA 12:32 UTC
5. 1.6 23km ESE of Anza, CA 10:57 UTC
6. 1.7 15km ESE of Anza, CA 09:35 UTC
7. 1.6 14km ESE of Anza, CA 06:28 UTC
8. 1.7 19km ESE of Anza, CA 20:41 UTC
9. 2.1 8km S of Idyllwild, CA 05:23 UTC
10. 2.1 8km S of Idyllwild, CA 05:23 UTC
11. 2.1 8km SSE of Idyllwild, CA 04:22 UTC
12. 2.4 23km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA 23:27 UTC
13. 1.8 14km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 19:07 UTC
14. 1.6 4km W of Lake Henshaw, CA 12:19 UTC
15. 1.6 15km NNW of Ocotillo Wells, CA 13:45 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:51 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.