QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

20km NW of Desert Center, CA

· 3.0 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Riverside County 41 kmImperial County 89 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 1.7 (ml)
Depth
3.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Riverside County, 41 km WSW
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 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 92× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 33.8243, -115.5747. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Riverside County, CA 41 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Riverside County
Imperial County, CA 89 km (56 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Bernardino County, CA 128 km (79 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Bernardino County
San Diego County, CA 143 km (89 mi) NE 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

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

  1. 1.6 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  2. 1.6 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  3. 1.7 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  4. 2.7 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  5. 2.2 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  6. 4.2 16km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
  7. 2.0 30km ESE of Twentynine Palms, CA
  8. 1.8 16km NE of Coachella, CA
  9. 2.4 23km NE of Thermal, CA
  10. 2.1 33km NNE of North Shore, CA
  11. 1.6 33km NNE of North Shore, CA
  12. 1.7 32km SE of Twentynine Palms, CA
  13. 1.5 22km ENE of Coachella, CA
  14. 2.1 20km ENE of Coachella, CA
  15. 1.6 13km ENE of Coachella, 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.