QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.1mw

7 km WSW of Holtville, CA

· 16 km deep · released about 21 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Imperial County 29 kmRiverside County 116 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 4.1 (mw)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
109 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Nearest
Imperial County, 29 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 109 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 8,200× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 370× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.1 about 21 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 43× 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 32.7908, -115.4532. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Imperial County, CA 29 km (18 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Imperial County
Riverside County, CA 116 km (72 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Riverside County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 12 km SE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  2. 1.8 8 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  3. 2.0 9 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  4. 2.2 8 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  5. 3.0 8 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  6. 2.3 8 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  7. 1.8 9 km E of Puebla, B.C., MX
  8. 2.7 8 km ESE of Puebla, B.C., MX
  9. 1.7 2 km NW of Brawley, CA
  10. 1.6 9 km WNW of Holtville, CA
  11. 1.6 2 km SSE of Ocotillo, CA
  12. 1.7 10 km NW of Calipatria, CA
  13. 1.7 7 km SSW of Holtville, CA
  14. 1.6 7 km WSW of Holtville, CA
  15. 1.5 7 km WSW of Holtville, 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 55 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.