QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

3 km ESE of La Plena, Puerto Rico

· 12 km deep · released about 6.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Guayama Municipio 7 kmCayey Municipio 8 kmSalinas Municipio 12 kmAibonito Municipio 15 kmArroyo Municipio 15 kmCidra Municipio 16 kmPatillas Municipio 20 kmCoamo Municipio 21 kmComerío Municipio 22 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Guayama Municipio, 7 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2751 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.0301, -66.1723. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Guayama Municipio, PR 7 km (5 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Guayama Municipio
Cayey Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Cayey Municipio
Salinas Municipio, PR 12 km (7 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Salinas Municipio
Aibonito Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Aibonito Municipio
Arroyo Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Arroyo Municipio
Cidra Municipio, PR 16 km (10 mi) S of here earthquakes near Cidra Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 1 km E of Jauca, Puerto Rico
  2. 1.6 5 km SSE of Arroyo, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.5 1 km ESE of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.7 15 km S of Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico
  5. 1.7 6 km ESE of Jayuya, Puerto Rico
  6. 1.5 4 km SSW of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.8 2 km SE of Salinas, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.3 Puerto Rico region
  9. 2.4 9 km N of Villalba, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.8 1 km SE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  11. 1.6 0 km ENE of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  12. 1.5 1 km N of Jobos, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.6 1 km NW of Coto Laurel, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.0 2 km WSW of Palomas, Puerto Rico
  15. 1.9 4 km N of Jobos, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.6 on 2016-12-05 — it released about 38,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.