QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Mona Passage

Yes. A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded in Mona Passage, 25 km (15 mi) WSW of Mayagüez, PR, at 8:26 pm AST on 15 December 2017 (00:26 UTC), 19 km deep.

25 km (15 mi) WSW of Mayagüez, PR · 140 km (87 mi) WSW of San Juan, PR

· 19 km deep · released about 230 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cabo Rojo Municipio 25 kmRincón Municipio 26 kmHormigueros Municipio 26 kmAñasco Municipio 30 kmAguada Municipio 33 kmSan Germán Municipio 35 kmLajas Municipio 38 kmMoca Municipio 40 kmLas Marías Municipio 42 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
19 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Cabo Rojo Municipio, 25 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3252 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 14 km (9 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Puerto Real, Cabo Rojo, Boquerón, Stella, Mayagüez, Hormigueros.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 230 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 65,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 46,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 230 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 4.3 on 2017-10-14 — about 370 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 18.1345, -67.3633. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 25 km (15 mi) SE earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) NNE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) E earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 30 km (19 mi) NE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 33 km (20 mi) NE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 35 km (21 mi) E earthquakes near San Germán Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 Mona Passage
  2. 1.9 1 km SSE of La Playa, Puerto Rico
  3. 1.7 5 km NE of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 8 km S of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.0 5 km SSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.6 3 km WSW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.2 5 km NE of San Germán, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.7 20 km W of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.3 43 km WSW of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.7 0 km WSW of Lajas, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.4 3 km E of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.7 19 km WNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.8 5 km NE of Maricao, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.1 4 km SW of Palmarejo, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.7 2 km SSW of Liborio Negron Torres, 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.