Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.9ml
8km WSW of Niland, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.9 (ml)
- Depth
- 1.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Imperial County, 29 km SE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1170 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 720 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 21,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 15,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.9 about 720 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 33.2058, -115.5943. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperial County, CA | 29 km (18 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near Imperial County |
| Riverside County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | SSE of here | earthquakes near Riverside County |
| San Diego County, CA | 112 km (70 mi) | E 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
60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 11km SW of Niland, CA
- 1.5 6km SW of Salton City, CA
- 2.6 6km SW of Salton City, CA
- 1.5 16km E of Ocotillo Wells, CA
- 1.7 2km SSW of Imperial, CA
- 2.2 3km NW of El Centro, CA
- 1.9 3km NW of El Centro, CA
- 1.5 2km NNW of El Centro, CA
- 2.0 3km SW of Imperial, CA
- 1.6 4km NNW of El Centro, CA
- 1.6 11km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
- 1.6 10km W of Niland, CA
- 1.7 7km E of Ocotillo Wells, CA
- 1.8 17km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
- 1.6 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, 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 5.3 on 2021-06-05 — it released about 3,100 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.