QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.7ml

7 km NW of Ocotillo Wells, CA

· 6.6 km deep · released about 320 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Diego County 59 kmRiverside County 62 kmImperial 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 2.7 (ml)
Depth
6.6 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
San Diego County, 59 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 568 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 320 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 48,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 34,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 320 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 33.1908, -116.1780. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Diego County, CA 59 km (36 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near San Diego County
Riverside County, CA 62 km (39 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Riverside County
Imperial County, CA 78 km (49 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Imperial County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 28 km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  2. 2.3 28 km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  3. 1.9 17 km SW of La Quinta, CA
  4. 1.5 28 km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  5. 1.7 21 km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  6. 1.8 11 km NE of Julian, CA
  7. 1.6 15 km N of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  8. 1.5 12 km N of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  9. 1.5 16 km W of Salton City, CA
  10. 1.6 15 km SE of Julian, CA
  11. 2.7 10 km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA
  12. 2.2 15 km ESE of Julian, CA
  13. 1.7 10 km S of Salton City, CA
  14. 2.3 13 km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
  15. 1.6 9 km NNE of Julian, 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 5.2 on 2016-06-10 — it released about 5,800 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.