QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2md

173 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 3.2 earthquake was recorded 173 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands at 04:18 UTC on 2019-05-16, 40 km deep.

· 40 km deep · released about 1,800 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 3.2 (md)
Depth
40 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2653 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 23 km (14 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 1,800 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,200× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,800 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.9× 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 370 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 19.8968, -65.1470. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.0 151 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 Puerto Rico region
  3. 3.5 146 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.3 135 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.8 145 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.0 160 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.2 130 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.3 156 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.1 138 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.1 133 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.2 137 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.8 126 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.0 148 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.2 135 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  15. 3.1 144 km NNE of Vieques, 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.