QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

9km S of Borrego Springs, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 430 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 41 kmRiverside County 70 kmImperial County 96 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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
8 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Diego County, 41 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 713 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 8 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 430 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 35,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 25,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 430 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 33.1770, -116.3720. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 41 km (26 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 70 km (44 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Riverside County
Imperial County, CA 96 km (60 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 8km N of Borrego Springs, CA
  2. 2.1 3km SSW of Palomar Observatory, CA
  3. 1.7 15km SE of Anza, CA
  4. 2.0 27km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  5. 1.5 19km ESE of Anza, CA
  6. 2.1 10km SSW of Salton City, CA
  7. 2.6 11km SSW of Salton City, CA
  8. 2.1 10km SSW of Salton City, CA
  9. 1.7 17km SW of Oasis, CA
  10. 1.6 11 km NW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  11. 2.0 22km ESE of Anza, CA
  12. 1.7 7km NE of Borrego Springs, CA
  13. 1.8 17km SW of Oasis, CA
  14. 1.7 17km SSW of La Quinta, CA
  15. 1.9 14km SE of Anza, 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 5.2 on 2016-06-10 — it released about 4,300 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.