QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0Md

102 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 102 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico, at 9:03 pm AST on 16 April 2017 (01:03 UTC), 35 km deep.

· 35 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fajardo Municipio 98 kmCulebra Municipio 101 kmLuquillo Municipio 105 kmRío Grande Municipio 108 kmLoíza Municipio 109 kmCeiba Municipio 113 kmCarolina Municipio 115 kmCanóvanas Municipio 117 kmSan Juan Municipio 120 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
35 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 98 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3411 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 11 km (7 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 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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2016-09-04 — about 89 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 43 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 48 km ENE of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 39 km ENE of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 20 km N of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 42 km W 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 19.2327, -65.3199. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 98 km (61 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 101 km (63 mi) S earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 105 km (65 mi) SSW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 108 km (67 mi) SSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 109 km (68 mi) SW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 113 km (70 mi) SSW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 63 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.7 66 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.4 139 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.1 82 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.1 87 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.3 82 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.3 93 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.1 64 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  9. 1.8 70 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 2.2 124 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 2.6 83 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.3 107 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 2.8 84 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.3 78 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.2 95 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.