QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

Mona Passage

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded in Mona Passage, 57 km (35 mi) W of Mayagüez, PR, at 1:56 am AST on 16 January 2018 (05:56 UTC), 52 km deep.

57 km (35 mi) W of Mayagüez, PR · 114 km (71 mi) WNW of Ponce, PR

· 52 km deep · released about 530 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Mayagüez Municipio 26 kmRincón Municipio 48 kmAguada Municipio 55 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 57 kmAñasco Municipio 58 kmHormigueros Municipio 60 kmAguadilla Municipio 64 kmMoca Municipio 66 kmSan Germán Municipio 68 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
52 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Mayagüez Municipio, 26 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3221 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 530 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 29,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 20,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.8× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 530 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 4.4 on 2017-10-01 — about 230 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 18.1993, -67.6770. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 26 km (16 mi) WSW earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 48 km (30 mi) ENE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 55 km (34 mi) ENE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 57 km (35 mi) ESE earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 58 km (36 mi) E earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 60 km (37 mi) E earthquakes near Hormigueros 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. 2.9 57 km W of Stella, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.3 45 km WSW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.4 16 km SSW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.2 28 km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.0 24 km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.9 33 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.4 27 km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.2 19 km WNW of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.1 59 km WSW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.6 47 km WSW of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.9 26 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.0 63 km W of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.0 66 km SE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  14. 2.9 70 km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.2 71 km SE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

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.