QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

12km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 11 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 63 kmSan Diego County 70 kmRiverside County 72 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Imperial County, 63 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2644 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 7.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 33.0843, -116.0275. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 63 km (39 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Diego County, CA 70 km (44 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 72 km (45 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

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

  1. 1.8 5km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
  2. 2.8 7km NW of Ocotillo, CA
  3. 1.5 18km NNW of Westmorland, CA
  4. 2.0 6km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
  5. 1.9 10km W of Calipatria, CA
  6. 2.6 12km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  7. 1.7 9km SSE of Borrego Springs, CA
  8. 3.1 13km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  9. 2.2 10km SSE of Bombay Beach, CA
  10. 1.6 14km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  11. 3.1 12km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  12. 1.5 13km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  13. 1.6 14km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  14. 2.0 17km WNW of Westmorland, CA
  15. 1.9 7km NE 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 4.3 on 2016-09-27 — it released about 12,000 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.