Earthquake near Brawley, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Brawley, 3 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Brawley 3 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 21 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 730,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 520,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 46× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 21 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.3 on 2021-06-05 — about 110,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 36 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1940 Imperial Valley, California Earthquake · 20 km SE of this epicentre May 19, 1940
2. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 22 km W of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 29 km WNW of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1979 Imperial Valley Earthquake, California-Baja California · 36 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 15, 1979
5. 6.3 The 1906 Imperial Valley, California Earthquake · 7 km SE of this epicentre Apr 19, 1906

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 32.9520, -115.5502. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 1.8 7 km WSW of Progreso, B.C., MX 00:09 UTC
2. 0.5 22 km SW of Westmorland, CA 23:22 UTC
3. 1.3 14 km WNW of Calipatria, CA 17:34 UTC
4. 2.4 9 km WSW of Progreso, B.C., MX 04:13 UTC
5. 1.2 15 km WSW of Westmorland, CA 16:30 UTC
6. 1.4 4 km SSW of Brawley, CA 14:01 UTC
7. 1.4 11 km NW of Progreso, B.C., MX 11:49 UTC
8. 1.3 13 km NW of Progreso, B.C., MX 08:49 UTC
9. 1.1 12 km WNW of Calipatria, CA 07:15 UTC
10. 0.3 14 km SSE of Bombay Beach, CA 07:04 UTC
11. 1.3 12 km WNW of Calipatria, CA 07:03 UTC
12. 1.9 20 km N of Ocotillo, CA 20:45 UTC
13. 1.5 1 km SE of Ocotillo, CA 17:49 UTC
14. 1.1 13 km SE of Ocotillo, CA 14:19 UTC
15. 1.1 13 km SE of Ocotillo, CA 14:14 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:00 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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