QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4md

122 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded 122 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, at 7:21 am AST on 12 November 2022 (11:21 UTC), 39 km deep.

· 39 km deep · released about 1.8 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 3.4 (md)
Depth
39 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 122 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1460 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 41 km (25 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 1.8 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 95,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,300× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.8 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 3.7× 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 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 190 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.1 91 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 48 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 29 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 34 km ESE of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 28 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 12 km W 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 19.4198, -65.2033. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 122 km (76 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 129 km (80 mi) SSW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 132 km (82 mi) SSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 133 km (83 mi) SW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 139 km (87 mi) SW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio
San Juan Municipio, PR 144 km (89 mi) SW earthquakes near San Juan Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 106 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 3.7 Virgin Islands
  3. 3.2 Virgin Islands
  4. 3.3 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.4 109 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.3 101 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.2 75 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 2.9 Puerto Rico region
  9. 3.3 Puerto Rico region
  10. 4.2 Puerto Rico region
  11. 3.2 103 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.5 76 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.6 87 km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico
  14. 3.3 110 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.6 83 km N of Charlotte Amalie, 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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.