Earthquake near Brawley, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 66 km (41 mi) from the epicentre. In Brawley, 39 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 16 km, intensity III · Calipatria 29 km, intensity II · Brawley 39 km, intensity II · Mecca 45 km, intensity II · Imperial 49 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 51,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.3 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 6.9× more

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 340 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 29 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 30 km S of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
2. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 30 km WSW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 26 km SSW of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 27 km WNW of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
5. 6.3 The 1906 Imperial Valley, California Earthquake · 47 km SE of this epicentre Apr 19, 1906

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 33.2472, -115.7958. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.1 9km WSW of Niland, CA 07:20 UTC
2. 2.8 8km WSW of Niland, CA 07:19 UTC
3. 2.9 8km WSW of Niland, CA 07:12 UTC
4. 4.3 9 km SW of Niland, CA 07:10 UTC
5. 4.3 8km WSW of Niland, CA 07:09 UTC
6. 1.6 16km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 07:02 UTC
7. 3.4 17km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 05:55 UTC
8. 1.6 17km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 04:57 UTC
9. 1.7 16km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 21:37 UTC
10. 2.1 11km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 08:39 UTC
11. 3.2 17km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 23:10 UTC
12. 1.6 10km SW of Niland, CA 09:27 UTC
13. 2.0 10km SW of Niland, CA 09:18 UTC
14. 1.9 11km SW of Niland, CA 08:36 UTC
15. 2.0 16km NNW of Westmorland, CA 08:15 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:20 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.