QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

129 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 129 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands, at 4:58 am AST on 8 September 2018 (08:58 UTC), 45 km deep.

· 45 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

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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
45 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2924 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 280 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 55,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 39,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 4.6 on 2016-01-15 — about 870 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.2 131 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 22 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.1 91 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 39 km SSW of this epicentre
  3. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 28 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 24 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 97 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 34 km SSE 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 19.4975, -64.7125. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.7 115 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 3.4 94 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 2.9 105 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.2 105 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.0 96 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.3 87 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.4 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.3 106 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.2 118 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.4 124 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.4 113 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.3 133 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.4 130 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 2.9 91 km N 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.