QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.0md

39 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands

· 46 km deep · released about 15 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 82 kmVieques Municipio 105 kmFajardo Municipio 108 kmCeiba Municipio 116 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 4.0 (md)
Depth
46 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 82 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 149 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 15 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 11,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.0 about 15 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 32× 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.

Where

Epicentre 18.6316, -64.5948. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Culebra Municipio, PR 82 km (51 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 105 km (65 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 108 km (67 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 116 km (72 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 121 km (75 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 82 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 2.4 66 km ENE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 2.8 37 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.2 84 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 2.6 66 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.5 12 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.6 28 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.9 39 km ENE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 2.7 71 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.2 69 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.0 42 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 2.9 54 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.3 76 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.1 77 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.3 66 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands

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 5.7 on 2023-12-09 — it released about 350 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.