QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.4md

Mona Passage

Yes. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded in Mona Passage, 31 km (20 mi) W of Mayagüez, PR, at 3:41 am AST on 9 April 2023 (07:41 UTC), 7.1 km deep.

31 km (20 mi) W of Mayagüez, PR · 146 km (91 mi) W of San Juan, PR

· 7.1 km deep · released about 1.9 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Rincón Municipio 23 kmAguada Municipio 31 kmAñasco Municipio 33 kmHormigueros Municipio 35 kmCabo Rojo Municipio 37 kmMoca Municipio 41 kmAguadilla Municipio 42 kmSan Germán Municipio 44 kmLas Marías Municipio 49 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 3.4 (md)
Depth
7.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Rincón Municipio, 23 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1312 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 57 km (35 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.

Likely felt in: Rincón 23 km, intensity II · Aguada 31 km, intensity II · Puerto Real 31 km, intensity II · Mayagüez 32 km, intensity II · Aguadilla 37 km, intensity II · Pole Ojea 39 km, intensity II · San Germán 45 km, intensity II · Rafael Hernandez 47 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.9 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 89,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,800× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.4 about 1.9 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 4× 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 in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2021-07-18 — about 39 times the energy of this one.

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 18.2275, -67.4377. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Rincón Municipio, PR 23 km (14 mi) ENE earthquakes near Rincón Municipio
Aguada Municipio, PR 31 km (19 mi) ENE earthquakes near Aguada Municipio
Añasco Municipio, PR 33 km (21 mi) ENE earthquakes near Añasco Municipio
Hormigueros Municipio, PR 35 km (22 mi) ESE earthquakes near Hormigueros Municipio
Cabo Rojo Municipio, PR 37 km (23 mi) SE earthquakes near Cabo Rojo Municipio
Moca Municipio, PR 41 km (26 mi) ENE earthquakes near Moca Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 Mona Passage
  2. 2.6 5 km NW of Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico
  3. 2.7 3 km SE of Palmarejo, 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.

On USGS

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