QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2md

35 km WSW of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico

· 16 km deep · released about 1,700 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Cabo Rojo Municipio 37 kmMayagüez Municipio 45 kmHormigueros Municipio 50 kmLajas Municipio 50 kmSan Germán Municipio 55 kmRincón Municipio 57 kmAñasco Municipio 59 kmGuánica Municipio 62 kmSabana Grande Municipio 63 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 3.2 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Cabo Rojo Municipio, 37 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1513 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,700 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 8,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,200× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,700 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.8× 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 17.8898, -67.5080. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 37 km (23 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Mayagüez Municipio, PR 45 km (28 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Mayagüez Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 50 km (31 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Lajas Municipio, PR 50 km (31 mi) W of here earthquakes near Lajas Municipio
San Germán Municipio, PR 55 km (34 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near San Germán Municipio
Rincón Municipio, PR 57 km (35 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Rincón Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 3 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.6 7 km ESE of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.1 10 km SW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  4. 1.6 4 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  5. 2.9 2 km SSW of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  6. 2.4 6 km W of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
  7. 1.6 8 km W of Pole Ojea, Puerto Rico
  8. 2.2 3 km WSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  9. 3.4 39 km WSW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  10. 1.6 7 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  11. 2.6 4 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.3 21 km SW of Stella, Puerto Rico
  13. 1.9 2 km SSW of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  14. 2.9 3 km W of La Parguera, Puerto Rico
  15. 2.2 21 km SW of Stella, 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 4.5 on 2021-07-18 — it released about 86 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.