QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

101 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 101 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico, at 3:50 am AST on 2 March 2018 (07:50 UTC), 13 km deep.

· 13 km deep · released about 950 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fajardo Municipio 97 kmCulebra Municipio 102 kmLuquillo Municipio 103 kmRío Grande Municipio 105 kmLoíza Municipio 106 kmCarolina Municipio 112 kmCeiba Municipio 113 kmCanóvanas Municipio 114 kmSan Juan Municipio 116 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
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 97 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3091 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 34 km (21 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 4.4 on 2017-08-14 — about 130 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 47 km E of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 21 km NNE of this epicentre
  3. 5.1 92 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico · 34 km W of this epicentre
  4. 5.0 109 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 41 km ENE of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 73 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 29 km SSW 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 19.2438, -65.3958. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 97 km (61 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Culebra Municipio, PR 102 km (64 mi) S earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 103 km (64 mi) SSW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 105 km (65 mi) SSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 106 km (66 mi) SSW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 112 km (69 mi) SSW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 82 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.0 79 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.3 79 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.1 72 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.1 66 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.4 82 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.3 77 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.1 81 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  9. 2.6 78 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.4 71 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.4 87 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.3 122 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.4 139 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.5 144 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 2.7 68 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

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.