QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0Md

55 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 55 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico, at 11:18 pm AST on 4 January 2017 (03:18 UTC), 68 km deep.

· 68 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 53 kmRincón Municipio 56 kmAguada Municipio 57 kmIsabela Municipio 65 kmMoca Municipio 66 kmAñasco Municipio 68 kmQuebradillas Municipio 74 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 78 kmMayagüez Municipio 81 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 3.0 (Md)
Depth
68 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 53 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3597 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 950 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 950 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.1 24 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 40 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.8 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 46 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 24 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 6.3 58 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 41 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 41 km ESE 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 18.7420, -67.5680. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 53 km (33 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 56 km (35 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 57 km (36 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 65 km (40 mi) ESE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 66 km (41 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 68 km (43 mi) SE earthquakes near Añasco 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. 2.8 36 km W of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 46 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.8 50 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.6 34 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 70 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.0 45 km W of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.0 48 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.1 38 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.0 39 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.3 40 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.9 33 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.9 36 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.4 44 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.5 42 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.8 38 km WNW of Rincón, 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.