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Minor mag. 1.6 earthquake - 13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA, on Saturday, Mar 18, 2023 at 12:34 pm (GMT -7) -

Minor magnitude 1.6 earthquake at 4 km depth

18 Mar 19:37 UTC: First to report: USGS after 3 minutes.
18 Mar 19:38: Magnitude recalculated from 1.5 to 1.6. Epicenter location corrected by 0.8 km (0.5 mi) towards ESE.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Mar 18, 2023 19:34:31 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Saturday, Mar 18, 2023 at 12:34 pm (GMT -7)
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	1.6
Depth	3.5 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	33.24517°N / 115.795°W (California, United States)
Antipode	33.245°S / 64.205°E
Shaking intensity	Very weak shaking
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcano	Salton Buttes (17 km / 11 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	13 km (8 mi) SSW of Bombay Beach (pop: 295) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 16 km (10 mi) ESE of Salton City (pop: 3,760) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 39 km (24 mi) NW of Brawley (Imperial County) (pop: 25,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 49 km (30 mi) NNW of Imperial (pop: 17,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 55 km (34 mi) NNW of El Sentro (pop: 44,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 60 km (37 mi) SE of Coachella (pop: 44,600) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 66 km (41 mi) SE of Indian Wells (pop: 87,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 86 km (53 mi) SE of Cathedral City (pop: 53,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Clear Sky 24.7°C (76 F), humidity: 31%, wind: 1 m/s (2 kts) from N
Estimated seismic energy released	1.6 x 10⁷ joules (4.4 kilowatt hours) \| about seismic energy

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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
1.6	3.5 km	13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA	USGS
1.6	10 km	Southern California	IRIS
1.6	3.5 km	Southern California	RaspberryShake

Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in the US California

Seismograms

Seismic station: Big Chuckawalla Mtns (BC3/CI network) | Distance from quake: 56 km / 34 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Big Chuckawalla Mtns: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.5-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

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Seismic station Big Chuckawalla Mtns: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Big Chuckawalla Mtns: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake, showing horizontal E-W and N-S ground movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Toro Peak, Riverside Co, CA, USA (TRO/AZ network) | Distance from quake: 66 km / 41 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Toro Peak, Riverside Co, CA, USA: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Toro Peak, Riverside Co, CA, USA: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Toro Peak, Riverside Co, CA, USA: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Lost Valley Scout Camp, CA, USA (LVA2/AZ network) | Distance from quake: 72 km / 45 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Lost Valley Scout Camp, CA, USA: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Lost Valley Scout Camp, CA, USA: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Lost Valley Scout Camp, CA, USA: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Jim Saunders Place, Anza, CA, USA (SND/AZ network) | Distance from quake: 83 km / 52 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Jim Saunders Place, Anza, CA, USA: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Jim Saunders Place, Anza, CA, USA: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Jim Saunders Place, Anza, CA, USA: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Seismic station: Barrett (BAR/CI network) | Distance from quake: 103 km / 64 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Barrett: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Barrett: horizontal (E-W) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismic station Barrett: horizontal (N-S) movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismograms around time of quake.
Top: vertical movement, bottom: horizontal (E-W and N-S) movements. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

User reports for this quake

At magnitude 1.6, such a quake wouldn't normally be felt by people, but could be recorded instrumentally.

Earlier earthquakes in the same area

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