QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3md

61 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 61 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico, at 2:42 am AST on 11 September 2018 (06:42 UTC), 151 km deep.

· 151 km deep · released about 1.2 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Rincón Municipio 62 kmAguadilla Municipio 65 kmMayagüez Municipio 65 kmAguada Municipio 65 kmAñasco Municipio 75 kmMoca Municipio 75 kmIsabela Municipio 78 kmHormigueros Municipio 87 kmQuebradillas Municipio 87 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 3.3 (md)
Depth
151 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Rincón Municipio, 62 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2984 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 1.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,400× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.5× more

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 50 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 32 km NW of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico · 37 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.3 58 km E of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 22 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 33 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico · 44 km E of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 72 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 48 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 68 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic · 41 km NNW 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 18.6520, -67.7326. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Rincón Municipio, PR 62 km (38 mi) SE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguadilla Municipio, PR 65 km (40 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguadilla Municipio
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 65 km (41 mi) SSW earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 65 km (41 mi) ESE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 75 km (47 mi) ESE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 75 km (47 mi) ESE earthquakes near Moca Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 42 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 55 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  3. 2.6 52 km ESE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  4. 2.3 25 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.6 33 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.8 22 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  7. 3.1 47 km ENE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  8. 3.0 42 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  9. 2.4 23 km NW of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  10. 2.7 22 km W of Rincón, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 78 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.9 91 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.1 54 km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
  14. 2.8 89 km NW of San Antonio, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.1 59 km W of Rincón, 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.