QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5ml

18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 9.5 km deep · released about 160 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 60 kmSan Diego County 72 kmRiverside County 78 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
9.5 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Imperial County, 60 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1170 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 160 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 95,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 68,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 160 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 33.0283, -116.0013. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 60 km (37 mi) W of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Diego County, CA 72 km (45 mi) E of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 78 km (48 mi) S of here earthquakes near Riverside County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 10km W of Niland, CA
  2. 1.5 6km SW of Brawley, CA
  3. 1.8 25km ENE of Pine Valley, CA
  4. 1.7 12km SW of Salton City, CA
  5. 1.7 12km WNW of Calipatria, CA
  6. 1.6 11km SW of Niland, CA
  7. 1.5 6km SW of Salton City, CA
  8. 2.6 6km SW of Salton City, CA
  9. 1.5 16km E of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  10. 1.6 5km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA
  11. 1.8 16km NNW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  12. 1.7 2km SSW of Imperial, CA
  13. 2.2 3km NW of El Centro, CA
  14. 1.9 3km NW of El Centro, CA
  15. 1.5 2km NNW of El Centro, 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 14,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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