QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

22km SSW of Newport Beach, CA

· 0.7 km deep · released about 13 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 35 kmLos Angeles County 87 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
0.7 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Orange County, 35 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1354 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 75× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 33.4350, -118.0273. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Orange County, CA 35 km (22 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Orange County
Los Angeles County, CA 87 km (54 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Los Angeles County
San Diego County, CA 125 km (78 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Ventura County, CA 145 km (90 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Ventura County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 22 km E of Avalon, CA
  2. 1.7 2km S of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
  3. 1.8 19km ESE of Avalon, CA
  4. 1.6 12km SE of Avalon, CA
  5. 2.5 3km ESE of Carson, CA
  6. 2.7 1km NNW of Signal Hill, CA
  7. 2.3 1km NNW of Signal Hill, CA
  8. 2.1 2km NW of Signal Hill, CA
  9. 2.4 20km N of Avalon, CA
  10. 1.8 14km NNE of Avalon, CA
  11. 1.8 3km ESE of Fountain Valley, CA
  12. 1.8 4km NNW of San Joaquin Hills, CA
  13. 1.5 5km ENE of North Tustin, CA
  14. 1.8 29km SSW of Dana Point, CA
  15. 2.0 4km SW of Newport Beach, 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 4.3 on 2021-09-18 — it released about 6,200 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.