QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8md

83 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands

· 23 km deep · released about 7.8 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 105 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 3.8 (md)
Depth
23 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 105 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 43 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 7.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 970× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 680× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 7.8 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 16× 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 19.0761, -64.6950. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Culebra Municipio, PR 105 km (65 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 121 km (75 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 131 km (82 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 133 km (82 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 134 km (83 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 140 km (87 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.3 91 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 3.1 41 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.0 48 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 2.5 47 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.4 48 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.0 44 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 4.1 49 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.3 73 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.8 118 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.7 76 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 2.5 70 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.6 108 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.3 70 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 2.9 76 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.0 60 km NNE 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 680 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.