QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1md

52 km NNE of Culebra, Puerto Rico

Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 52 km NNE of Culebra, Puerto Rico, at 4:01 pm AST on 13 October 2019 (20:01 UTC), 26 km deep.

· 26 km deep · released about 1,400 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 50 kmFajardo Municipio 61 kmLuquillo Municipio 72 kmCeiba Municipio 74 kmVieques Municipio 76 kmRío Grande Municipio 79 kmNaguabo Municipio 85 kmLoíza Municipio 89 kmCanóvanas Municipio 89 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 3.1 (md)
Depth
26 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 50 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2510 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 33 km (21 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 1,400 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 240,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,700× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,400 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.5× 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 4.5 on 2018-02-09 — about 120 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.0 73 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 44 km NW 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 18.7605, -65.1710. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culebra Municipio, PR 50 km (31 mi) SSW earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 61 km (38 mi) SW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 72 km (45 mi) SW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 74 km (46 mi) SW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 76 km (47 mi) SSW earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 79 km (49 mi) WSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 25 km NNE of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.5 73 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.2 80 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  4. 3.4 48 km NNE of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.6 79 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 2.7 69 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  7. 2.8 51 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.3 66 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.3 74 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.4 74 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 2.6 61 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  12. 2.9 55 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
  13. 4.4 89 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.3 19 km W of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.0 57 km N of Culebra, 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.