QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.9md

126 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 2.9 earthquake was recorded 126 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 9:49 am AST on 29 September 2019 (13:49 UTC), 37 km deep.

· 37 km deep · released about 630 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 2.9 (md)
Depth
37 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2598 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 630 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 24,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 17,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 630 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 2016-10-23 — about 190 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.4 106 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 33 km SW of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 113 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico · 24 km WSW 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 19.6098, -66.1295. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 84 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.3 113 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.7 107 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.5 127 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.2 112 km N of Suárez, Puerto Rico
  6. 3.4 105 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.3 83 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  8. 3.5 119 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.5 118 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.8 150 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
  11. 3.4 92 km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.1 108 km NNE of San Juan, Puerto Rico
  13. 3.6 115 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.5 115 km N of Brenas, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.7 105 km N of San Juan, 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.