QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

60 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 60 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico, at 6:46 pm AST on 30 December 2017 (22:46 UTC), 71 km deep.

· 71 km deep · released about 780 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Aguadilla Municipio 59 kmRincón Municipio 61 kmAguada Municipio 63 kmIsabela Municipio 71 kmMoca Municipio 71 kmAñasco Municipio 74 kmQuebradillas Municipio 80 kmMayagüez Municipio 80 kmSan Sebastián Municipio 84 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
71 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Aguadilla Municipio, 59 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3162 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 780 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 19,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 780 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 4.4 on 2017-10-01 — about 150 times the energy of this one.

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 · 46 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.8 94 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 42 km NNW of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 30 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 6.3 58 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 38 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 6.1 15 km WNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 47 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 18.7585, -67.6208. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 59 km (37 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 63 km (39 mi) SE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Isabela Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) ESE earthquakes near Isabela Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 71 km (44 mi) SE earthquakes near Moca Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 74 km (46 mi) SE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 35 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.0 75 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.8 31 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.0 53 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.2 29 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.6 53 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.9 75 km NNW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.5 36 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.4 Mona Passage
  10. 2.5 31 km NNW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.8 51 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  12. 2.8 36 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.9 53 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.7 45 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  15. 3.0 51 km NNW of San Antonio, 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.