QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

48km SSW of San Clemente, CA

· 3.9 km deep · released about 14 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 70 kmSan Diego County 103 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
3.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 70 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2313 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 14 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 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 790,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 70× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 33.0550, -117.8803. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Orange County, CA 70 km (43 mi) S of here earthquakes near Orange County
San Diego County, CA 103 km (64 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

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

  1. 3.2 18km SE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  2. 1.6 49km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  3. 2.1 6km ESE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  4. 2.3 36km NE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  5. 2.3 45km NE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  6. 1.7 4km WNW of Camp Pendleton South, CA
  7. 2.1 39km W of La Jolla, CA
  8. 1.8 23km ENE of Avalon, CA
  9. 1.7 10km SW of Laguna Beach, CA
  10. 1.7 38km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  11. 2.0 38km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  12. 1.8 28km SW of Dana Point, CA
  13. 2.5 22km W of La Jolla, CA
  14. 1.5 38km W of La Jolla, CA
  15. 1.9 23km WSW of Dana Point, 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.