QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

5 km SW of Palmarejo, Puerto Rico

· 3.0 km deep · released about 5.9 lb of TNT

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10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cabo Rojo Municipio 8 kmLajas Municipio 8 kmSan Germán Municipio 14 kmHormigueros Municipio 15 kmSabana Grande Municipio 20 kmGuánica Municipio 20 kmMaricao Municipio 27 kmYauco Municipio 28 kmLas Marías Municipio 29 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 1.5 (md)
Depth
3.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Cabo Rojo Municipio, 8 km W
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1880 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 5.9 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 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 17.9978, -67.1093. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) E of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 8 km (5 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 14 km (9 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 15 km (9 mi) S of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Sabana Grande Municipio, PR 20 km (12 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Sabana Grande Municipio
Guánica Municipio, PR 20 km (13 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Guánica Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.1 5 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  2. 3.4 5 km S of Magas Arriba, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.1 3 km SE of Tallaboa Alta, Puerto Rico
  4. 2.8 8 km SSW of Tallaboa, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.1 7 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.5 5 km S of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  7. 3.4 6 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.6 8 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.3 7 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  10. 3.3 6 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.3 Puerto Rico region
  12. 2.3 2 km SE of Maria Antonia, Puerto Rico
  13. 2.0 4 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.3 3 km WSW of Guánica, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.5 6 km S of Guánica, 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 6.4 on 2020-01-07 — it released about 20,000,000 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.