QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.6mw

44 km NE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA

· 5.8 km deep · released about 3.3 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 71 kmSan Diego County 112 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 3.6 (mw)
Depth
5.8 km below the surface
Felt
70 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity II (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Orange County, 71 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 631 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 70 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 51,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 6.9× 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 33.0602, -117.9728. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Orange County, CA 71 km (44 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Orange County
San Diego County, CA 112 km (69 mi) W 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

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

  1. 3.0 26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
  2. 2.5 26 km ESE of Avalon, CA
  3. 1.6 32 km WSW of La Jolla, CA
  4. 2.2 48 km WSW of Encinitas, CA
  5. 1.8 48 km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  6. 2.5 44 km WSW of Carlsbad, CA
  7. 1.7 28 km W of La Jolla, CA
  8. 2.2 26 km SW of Carlsbad, CA
  9. 1.6 15 km WSW of Dana Point, CA
  10. 1.7 40 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  11. 1.6 48 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  12. 1.9 33 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  13. 3.1 5 km S of San Clemente, CA
  14. 2.4 33 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), CA
  15. 2.5 32 km ENE of San Clemente Is. (SE tip), 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.

On USGS

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