QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8mw

12km NNW of Ocotillo, CA

· 10 km deep · released about 8.1 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 68 kmSan Diego County 72 kmRiverside County 99 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 3.8 (mw)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
262 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Imperial County, 68 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1330 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 262 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 21,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 930× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 8.1 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 17× 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.

Where

Epicentre 32.8362, -116.0403. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 68 km (42 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
San Diego County, CA 72 km (45 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 99 km (62 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

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

  1. 1.5 14km E of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 1.5 14km E of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  3. 2.1 1km E of El Centro, CA
  4. 1.7 1km SW of El Centro, CA
  5. 2.0 25km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  6. 2.2 26km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  7. 1.8 19km E of Julian, CA
  8. 1.7 11km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  9. 1.7 10km ESE of Borrego Springs, CA
  10. 1.7 10km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  11. 1.7 25km SW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  12. 2.5 26km SW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  13. 1.5 15km NW of Ocotillo, CA
  14. 1.7 22km SSE of Ocotillo, CA
  15. 1.8 15km ESE of Ocotillo, 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 4.9 on 2020-10-01 — it released about 46 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.