QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6ml

21km NNE of Ocotillo, CA

· 12 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 51 kmSan Diego County 86 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 2.6 (ml)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Imperial County, 51 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2108 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 32.8978, -115.8718. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 51 km (32 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Diego County, CA 86 km (53 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 93 km (58 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

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

  1. 1.7 11km SW of Niland, CA
  2. 1.9 13km W of Niland, CA
  3. 2.0 12km SW of Niland, CA
  4. 2.0 10km WSW of Niland, CA
  5. 1.9 4km SSW of Niland, CA
  6. 1.9 9km W of Niland, CA
  7. 1.9 10km WSW of Niland, CA
  8. 1.6 10km SSW of Salton City, CA
  9. 2.0 23km NW of Ocotillo, CA
  10. 1.7 16km E of Ocotillo, CA
  11. 1.8 8km SW of Niland, CA
  12. 1.6 14km W of Imperial, CA
  13. 1.6 15km E of Ocotillo, CA
  14. 2.2 4km S of Heber, CA
  15. 1.8 19km WNW of Ocotillo, 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 4.9 on 2020-10-01 — it released about 2,800 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.