QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.3Ml

87 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 4.3 earthquake was recorded 87 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico, at 3:24 pm AST on 4 September 2016 (19:24 UTC), 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 43 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fajardo Municipio 84 kmCulebra Municipio 86 kmLuquillo Municipio 90 kmRío Grande Municipio 94 kmLoíza Municipio 97 kmCeiba Municipio 99 kmCarolina Municipio 103 kmCanóvanas Municipio 104 kmNaguabo Municipio 107 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 4.3 (Ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 84 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3631 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 121 km (75 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 43 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 180× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.3 about 43 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 89× more

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 (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. The previous largest was M 4.0 on 2016-06-29.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 46 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 35 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 45 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.0 109 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 41 km NE of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 73 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 21 km WSW of this epicentre

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 19.0960, -65.3261. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 84 km (52 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 86 km (53 mi) S earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 90 km (56 mi) SSW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 94 km (59 mi) SSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 97 km (60 mi) SW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 99 km (61 mi) SSW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 70 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.0 68 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.1 82 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.2 90 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.4 88 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.2 62 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.5 Puerto Rico region
  8. 2.3 87 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.5 86 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.9 84 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.1 56 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.1 46 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.8 104 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 1.7 69 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.3 68 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico

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.