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Location:
10km NW of Calipatria, CA
Period:
16 May 2013 01:29:06 - 21 May 2013 23:02:11 (5 days 21 hours 33 minutes)
Volcanoes in 100km radius:
Salton Buttes(0km), Prieto, Cerro(91km)
Earthquakes:
135
99 swarms found nearby.
2000
11 May
2 days 10 hours
52 earthquakes
2001
S20011113.1(14.8km)
13 Nov
23 hours
99 earthquakes
2002
24 Feb
1 day 2 hours
31 earthquakes
2003
13 Apr
1 day 18 hours
32 earthquakes
S20030524.1(27.5km)
23 May
1 day 22 hours
161 earthquakes
20 Sep
1 day 8 hours
31 earthquakes
2004
15 Mar
2 days 20 hours
64 earthquakes
2005
29 Aug
10 hours
24 earthquakes
31 Aug
11 days 21 hours
953 earthquakes
19 Sep
2 days 11 hours
50 earthquakes
2008
15 Mar
5 days 22 hours
111 earthquakes
27 May
9 hours
47 earthquakes
S20080602.1(14.9km)
2 Jun
2 days 13 hours
145 earthquakes
29 Sep
1 day 4 hours
37 earthquakes
S20081030.1(28.8km)
30 Oct
2 days 14 hours
105 earthquakes
2009
S20090321.1(14.7km)
21 Mar
2 days 3 hours
50 earthquakes
S20090324.1(15.7km)
24 Mar
6 days 21 hours
410 earthquakes
17 Apr
1 day 13 hours
29 earthquakes
13 Jun
1 day 5 hours
53 earthquakes
1 Aug
3 days 10 hours
106 earthquakes
S20090924.1(22.1km)
24 Sep
19 hours
28 earthquakes
2 Oct
2 days 23 hours
43 earthquakes
S20091101.1(13.4km)
1 Nov
12 hours
26 earthquakes
7 Nov
5 hours
36 earthquakes
17 Nov
1 day 19 hours
142 earthquakes
23 Nov
4 days 3 hours
69 earthquakes
2010
10 Jan
10 days 2 hours
233 earthquakes
22 Jan
2 days 3 hours
46 earthquakes
21 Feb
1 day 20 hours
28 earthquakes
4 Apr
6 days 21 hours
132 earthquakes
PS20100405.1(113.5km)
4 Apr
1 hours
5 earthquakes
22 Apr
1 day 4 hours
38 earthquakes
5 Aug
1 day 0 hours
26 earthquakes
28 Aug
1 day 2 hours
32 earthquakes
11 Nov
1 day 10 hours
28 earthquakes
S20101213.1(14.7km)
13 Dec
12 hours
49 earthquakes
S20101215.1(22.0km)
15 Dec
1 day 4 hours
101 earthquakes
27 Dec
11 hours
66 earthquakes
31 Dec
1 day 14 hours
33 earthquakes
2011
7 Jan
2 days 20 hours
94 earthquakes
27 Mar
1 day 18 hours
42 earthquakes
2 Apr
1 day 12 hours
34 earthquakes
1 Jul
1 day 2 hours
36 earthquakes
2012
8 Feb
2 days 0 hours
29 earthquakes
19 Feb
1 day 18 hours
86 earthquakes
26 Feb
2 days 1 hours
88 earthquakes
29 Feb
14 hours
34 earthquakes
3 Mar
3 days 11 hours
72 earthquakes
22 Mar
2 days 22 hours
73 earthquakes
20 May
2 days 1 hours
33 earthquakes
8 Jun
19 hours
95 earthquakes
S20120826.1(23.5km)
26 Aug
11 days 23 hours
972 earthquakes
S20120910.1(12.6km)
9 Sep
1 day 1 hours
28 earthquakes
24 Sep
1 day 17 hours
51 earthquakes
2013
18 Feb
4 days 14 hours
57 earthquakes
3 Apr
2 days 12 hours
59 earthquakes
28 Apr
2 days 2 hours
41 earthquakes
3 Jun
3 days 15 hours
134 earthquakes
19 Aug
3 days 21 hours
47 earthquakes
27 Aug
1 day 17 hours
37 earthquakes
8 Oct
1 day 23 hours
83 earthquakes
13 Oct
2 days 10 hours
83 earthquakes
16 Oct
1 day 21 hours
50 earthquakes
31 Oct
16 hours
31 earthquakes
27 Nov
1 day 7 hours
52 earthquakes
21 Dec
1 day 8 hours
65 earthquakes
2014
28 Mar
1 day 16 hours
34 earthquakes
2015
21 May
1 day 13 hours
38 earthquakes
2016
29 Jul
1 day 9 hours
30 earthquakes
26 Sep
6 days 7 hours
322 earthquakes
31 Oct
23 hours
39 earthquakes
S20161231.1(26.6km)
31 Dec
3 days 4 hours
317 earthquakes
2018
17 Jun
1 day 9 hours
26 earthquakes
2019
17 Jan
4 days 13 hours
71 earthquakes
2020
5 May
1 day 14 hours
56 earthquakes
9 Aug
4 days 12 hours
319 earthquakes
S20200930.1(10.0km)
30 Sep
9 days 1 hours
1724 earthquakes
22 Oct
2 days 5 hours
53 earthquakes
VS20201113.1(11.2km)
13 Nov
23 hours
38 earthquakes
26 Nov
1 day 10 hours
27 earthquakes
2021
4 Jan
21 hours
43 earthquakes
10 Jan
6 hours
26 earthquakes
31 Jan
23 hours
38 earthquakes
8 Feb
3 days 9 hours
117 earthquakes
18 Mar
14 hours
27 earthquakes
4 Jun
19 days 4 hours
2347 earthquakes
S20210611.1(28.7km)
11 Jun
4 hours
26 earthquakes
23 Aug
2 days 11 hours
48 earthquakes
2022
20 Sep
23 hours
39 earthquakes
2023
30 Apr
17 hours
68 earthquakes
3 Oct
1 day 11 hours
29 earthquakes
9 Dec
18 hours
34 earthquakes
2024
VS20240211.1(12.9km)
10 Feb
1 day 21 hours
26 earthquakes
S20240214.3(11.6km)
14 Feb
1 day 12 hours
31 earthquakes
20 Dec
12 hours
48 earthquakes
2025
10 Apr
1 day 9 hours
64 earthquakes
22 Apr
10 hours
28 earthquakes
11 Jul
1 day 18 hours
132 earthquakes
2026
S20260510.1(26.3km)
9 May
4 days 16 hours
477 earthquakes
AI-generated article — for informational and entertainment purposes only. May contain inaccuracies. Full disclaimerFound an error?

Seismic Swarm VS20130516.1: Analysis of Activity Near Calipatria, California

An earthquake swarm designated VS20130516.1 occurred 10 km northwest of Calipatria in California's Imperial Valley. The sequence began at 01:29 on 16 May 2013 and concluded at 23:02 on 21 May 2013, spanning 141 hours and 33 minutes. During this interval, 135 earthquakes were recorded. The Imperial Valley lies within the Salton Trough, a tectonically active pull-apart basin formed by the interaction of the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems. This region experiences frequent seismic swarms driven by right-lateral strike-slip faulting, geothermal fluid migration, and crustal extension associated with the Pacific-North America plate boundary.

Analysis of the first 100 events reveals predominantly shallow hypocenters between 0 and 7 km depth, consistent with activity in the brittle upper crust. Magnitudes ranged from 0.2 to 3.5, with the largest event (M3.5) occurring at 03:07 on 17 May 2013 at 1 km depth. Early activity on 16 May featured numerous events below M1.0, followed by a gradual increase in both rate and magnitude on 17 May. No single dominant mainshock was evident; instead, the sequence displayed the classic swarm pattern of clustered, similar-sized events without a clear aftershock decay.

The swarm's location places it within the Brawley Seismic Zone, where historical data document repeated swarm episodes linked to the same fault network. Since 1 January 2000, 57 swarms have been identified in the region, distributed across years as follows: 2000 (1), 2001 (1), 2002 (1), 2003 (3), 2004 (1), 2005 (3), 2008 (5), 2009 (11), 2010 (13), 2011 (4), 2012 (11), and 2013 (3). These episodes underscore the area's persistent seismic productivity, often occurring without producing damaging ground motions due to their modest magnitudes and shallow but localized sources.

Geological conditions in the Salton Trough include thick sedimentary fill overlying thinned continental crust, with active geothermal fields enhancing pore-pressure changes that can trigger swarm-like seismicity. Updated regional monitoring by the Southern California Seismic Network continues to track such activity, confirming that swarms remain a characteristic feature of Imperial Valley tectonics rather than isolated anomalies.

  • USGS Earthquake Catalog (earthquake.usgs.gov)
  • Southern California Seismic Network reports
  • SeismoSight internal swarm classification VS20130516.1