66 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

2016-08-16 18:27 UTC · 52 km deep · released about 85 lb of TNT

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: 2016-08-16 18:27 UTC
Magnitude: M 2.3 (Md)
Depth: 52 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Culebra Municipio, 80 km SSW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 3694 days ago · we first saw it 3694 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 85 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 11× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 2.3 about 85 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.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 18.9430, -64.9130. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Culebra Municipio, PR	80 km (50 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR	94 km (59 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR	106 km (66 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR	106 km (66 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR	107 km (66 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR	113 km (70 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

2.2 93 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 21:30 UTC
2.4 91 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 20:38 UTC
1.9 87 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 19:43 UTC
2.5 91 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 19:28 UTC
1.5 48 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 18:47 UTC
2.3 92 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 18:32 UTC
2.2 90 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 17:41 UTC
1.7 94 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 17:22 UTC
3.1 101 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 16:44 UTC
2.4 94 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 16:32 UTC
1.8 98 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 15:41 UTC
2.2 100 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 15:35 UTC
2.3 91 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 14:44 UTC
1.9 98 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 14:39 UTC
2.5 88 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands 14:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:35 UTC. 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 4.0 on 2016-06-29 — it released about 350 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

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.