QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

40km WSW of Carlsbad, CA

· 5.8 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 78 kmSan Diego County 88 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
5.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 78 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2839 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 15 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 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 32.9798, -117.7183. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Orange County, CA 78 km (48 mi) S of here earthquakes near Orange County
San Diego County, CA 88 km (55 mi) W 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

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

  1. 1.8 30km WSW of La Jolla, CA
  2. 1.9 8km W of Encinitas, CA
  3. 2.6 38km WSW of Encinitas, CA
  4. 1.8 31km W of La Jolla, CA
  5. 2.3 26km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  6. 1.8 32km WSW of Encinitas, CA
  7. 1.6 31km W of La Jolla, CA
  8. 1.8 39km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  9. 2.5 2km SSW of Encinitas, CA
  10. 1.8 48km SSW of San Clemente, CA
  11. 1.7 17km SW of Dana Point, CA
  12. 2.7 16km W of Camp Pendleton South, CA
  13. 1.8 16km SW of La Jolla, CA
  14. 2.3 32km W of La Jolla, CA
  15. 2.7 45km WSW of Carlsbad, 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.