QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

17km NW of Ocotillo, CA

· 9.3 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 63 kmImperial County 77 kmRiverside County 102 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
9.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Diego County, 63 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3205 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 32.8237, -116.1397. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 63 km (39 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Imperial County, CA 77 km (48 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
Riverside County, CA 102 km (63 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. 1.9 18km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 2.2 13km N of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  3. 2.0 7km SSW of Borrego Springs, CA
  4. 1.8 16km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  5. 1.6 20km WNW of Progreso, B.C., MX
  6. 1.8 15km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  7. 2.6 10km S of Salton City, CA
  8. 2.0 19km WNW of Progreso, B.C., MX
  9. 1.7 14km SSW of Westmorland, CA
  10. 1.6 18km NNW of Ocotillo, CA
  11. 1.6 15km SSE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  12. 1.7 6km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  13. 3.6 6km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  14. 2.0 27km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  15. 1.5 4km S of Borrego Springs, 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 2,100 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.