QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9ml

18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 62 kmSan Diego County 71 kmRiverside County 79 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 1.9 (ml)
Depth
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Imperial County, 62 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2327 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 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 730,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 520,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 46× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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 33.0182, -116.0152. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 62 km (38 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Diego County, CA 71 km (44 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 79 km (49 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

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

  1. 1.5 3km NW of El Centro, CA
  2. 1.7 15km N of Ocotillo, CA
  3. 1.6 20km E of Ocotillo, CA
  4. 2.4 4km SW of Salton City, CA
  5. 1.6 10km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  6. 1.8 20km E of Ocotillo, CA
  7. 1.9 21km E of Ocotillo, CA
  8. 1.7 17km NNW of Ocotillo, CA
  9. 1.6 21km E of Ocotillo, CA
  10. 1.6 21km WSW of El Centro, CA
  11. 3.6 21km E of Ocotillo, CA
  12. 1.6 4km ENE of Westmorland, CA
  13. 1.9 5km NE of Westmorland, CA
  14. 1.5 17km NNW of Ocotillo, CA
  15. 1.6 11km NNE 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 4.5 on 2020-05-10 — it released about 9,400 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.