QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5ml

31 km ESE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA

Yes. A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 31 km ESE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA, 88 km (54 mi) W of San Diego, CA, at 7:01 pm PST on 30 January 2024 (03:01 UTC), less than 1 km deep.

88 km (54 mi) W of San Diego, CA

· -0.2 km deep · released about 150 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 114 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 2.5 (ml)
Depth
-0.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 114 km NNE
Nearest mapped fault
San Clemente fault, 7 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 943 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 150 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 72,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 6.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 150 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.4 on 2024-01-15 — about 900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.8 11km NNE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA · 35 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 5.5 The 1986 Oceanside, California Earthquake · 37 km NNE of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 32.6803, -118.0595. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Orange County, CA 114 km (71 mi) NNE earthquakes near Orange County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 46 km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  2. 1.6 32 km WSW of La Jolla, CA
  3. 2.2 48 km WSW of Encinitas, CA
  4. 1.8 48 km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  5. 2.5 44 km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  6. 2.1 31 km WSW of La Jolla, CA
  7. 2.5 12 km SSE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  8. 2.1 69 km SE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  9. 1.7 40 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  10. 1.6 48 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  11. 1.9 33 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  12. 2.4 33 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  13. 2.5 32 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  14. 2.9 10 km WNW of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  15. 1.8 45 km W of La Jolla, 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.