QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

12km N of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 9.6 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Riverside County 54 kmSan Diego County 67 kmImperial County 74 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
9.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Riverside County, 54 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3518 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 33.2503, -116.1088. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Riverside County, CA 54 km (34 mi) S of here earthquakes near Riverside County
San Diego County, CA 67 km (42 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Imperial County, CA 74 km (46 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Imperial County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 7km WSW of Niland, CA
  2. 1.8 7km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
  3. 1.7 23km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  4. 2.0 26km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  5. 1.6 8km SW of Niland, CA
  6. 1.8 23km NNW of Ocotillo, CA
  7. 2.0 17km SE of Julian, CA
  8. 2.0 27km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  9. 2.0 26km NW of Ocotillo, CA
  10. 1.7 24km NW of Ocotillo, CA
  11. 1.5 16km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA
  12. 1.7 11km NW of Calipatria, CA
  13. 1.6 4km WSW of Borrego Springs, CA
  14. 1.8 6km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  15. 1.7 12km NNE 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 5.2 on 2016-06-10 — it released about 120,000 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.