QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9Md

Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 1.9 earthquake was recorded in the Virgin Islands, at 5:45 am AST on 10 July 2016 (09:45 UTC), 14 km deep.

· 14 km deep · released about 21 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 91 kmFajardo Municipio 106 kmVieques Municipio 117 kmLuquillo Municipio 117 kmCeiba Municipio 118 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 1.9 (Md)
Depth
14 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 91 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3776 days ago

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 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. 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.

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 5.8 710,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 45× 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 in our catalogue was M 4.0 on 2016-06-29 — about 1,400 times the energy of this one.

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 19.0053, -64.8275. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culebra Municipio, PR 91 km (56 mi) SW earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 106 km (66 mi) SW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 117 km (73 mi) SSW earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 117 km (73 mi) SW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 118 km (73 mi) SW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 124 km (77 mi) SW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.9 110 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 2.2 76 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 2.3 82 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 2.3 103 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 2.2 101 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 2.3 68 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.3 73 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.6 44 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 2.5 83 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 1.8 33 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 2.2 83 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 2.8 67 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.3 67 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 2.9 63 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 2.1 37 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands

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.