QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9ml

20 km NW of Desert Center, CA

· 1.5 km deep · released about 18 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Riverside County 46 kmImperial County 92 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 1.9 (ml)
Depth
1.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Riverside County, 46 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 606 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 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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 33.8597, -115.5267. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Riverside County, CA 46 km (29 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Riverside County
Imperial County, CA 92 km (57 mi) N of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Bernardino County, CA 126 km (78 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near San Bernardino County
San Diego County, CA 149 km (92 mi) NE 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

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

  1. 0.9 21 km ENE of Thermal, CA
  2. 1.6 20 km ENE of Thermal, CA
  3. 2.1 15 km NE of Thermal, CA
  4. 1.6 19 km ENE of Coachella, CA
  5. 1.6 20 km NW of Desert Center, CA
  6. 1.6 10 km ESE of North Shore, CA
  7. 2.4 10 km ESE of North Shore, CA
  8. 1.5 14 km NE of Coachella, CA
  9. 1.8 14 km NE of Coachella, CA
  10. 2.3 14 km NE of Coachella, CA
  11. 2.6 20 km ENE of Coachella, CA
  12. 1.6 20 km NE of Coachella, CA
  13. 2.2 20 km ENE of Coachella, CA
  14. 2.5 20 km NE of Coachella, CA
  15. 1.7 20 km NE of Coachella, 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.