QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

27km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 6.8 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 51 kmImperial County 84 kmRiverside County 93 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
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Diego County, 51 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2259 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 32.9177, -116.2432. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 51 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Imperial County, CA 84 km (52 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County
Riverside County, CA 93 km (58 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Riverside County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 11km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 1.7 11km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  3. 2.1 16km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  4. 1.6 12km NE of Julian, CA
  5. 2.4 5km SW of Salton City, CA
  6. 3.2 5km SW of Salton City, CA
  7. 1.9 24km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  8. 1.6 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  9. 2.2 5km SW of Salton City, CA
  10. 1.8 5km SW of Salton City, CA
  11. 1.7 4km SW of Salton City, CA
  12. 2.8 22km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  13. 2.2 23km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  14. 1.5 24km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  15. 2.0 23km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, 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 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.