Earthquake near Salton City, CA

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 17 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In Salton City, 15 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). 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.

Likely felt in: Salton City 15 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 77 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 77 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 5.3 on 2021-06-05 — about 30,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 41 km SE of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
2. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 6 km S of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 34 km SE of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 7 km NNE of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
5. 6.2 The 1987 Elmore Ranch, California Earthquake · 33 km ESE of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987

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 33.2340, -116.1028. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 3km SW of Salton City, CA 19:50 UTC
2. 2.3 3km SW of Salton City, CA 18:54 UTC
3. 3.6 4km SW of Salton City, CA 18:54 UTC
4. 1.6 16km ESE of Anza, CA 12:55 UTC
5. 1.8 8km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 08:42 UTC
6. 1.6 4km SW of Salton City, CA 06:17 UTC
7. 1.6 8km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 05:09 UTC
8. 1.6 8km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 16:04 UTC
9. 3.3 7km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 16:01 UTC
10. 1.9 10km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 09:33 UTC
11. 1.9 14km N of Ocotillo Wells, CA 15:22 UTC
12. 1.6 11km SW of Niland, CA 03:52 UTC
13. 2.1 6km ENE of North Shore, CA 09:19 UTC
14. 1.6 12km W of Calipatria, CA 08:46 UTC
15. 1.5 12km WNW of Calipatria, CA 07:43 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:29 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.