QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

15km NW of Ocotillo, CA

· 13 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 66 kmImperial County 73 kmRiverside County 99 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Diego County, 66 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3421 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 32.8392, -116.1013. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 66 km (41 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Imperial County, CA 73 km (45 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
Riverside County, CA 99 km (62 mi) S of here earthquakes near Riverside County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 10km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 2.0 24km E of Pine Valley, CA
  3. 1.7 15km ESE of Ocotillo, CA
  4. 1.9 11km SW of Salton City, CA
  5. 1.8 11km SW of Salton City, CA
  6. 2.5 10km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  7. 3.5 10km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  8. 1.6 16km WNW of Progreso, B.C., MX
  9. 1.8 17km NNE of Pine Valley, CA
  10. 1.7 25km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  11. 1.7 20km NNE of Ocotillo, CA
  12. 2.2 24km E of Pine Valley, CA
  13. 1.7 8km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  14. 1.5 24km E of Pine Valley, CA
  15. 1.6 18km ESE of Ocotillo, 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 6,200 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.