QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

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

· 20 km deep · released about 240 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 64 kmFajardo Municipio 86 kmVieques Municipio 89 kmCeiba Municipio 96 kmLuquillo Municipio 99 kmRío Grande Municipio 108 kmNaguabo Municipio 109 kmHumacao Municipio 118 kmCanóvanas Municipio 118 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
20 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 64 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours 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 240 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 45,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 240 lb of TNT

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 2024-04-28 — about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 5.9 68 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 32 km NNE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 65 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 35 km NE of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 80 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 47 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 78 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 43 km NNE of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 36 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 14 km ESE 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 18.6803, -64.8292. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culebra Municipio, PR 64 km (40 mi) SW earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 86 km (54 mi) WSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 89 km (55 mi) SW earthquakes near Vieques Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 96 km (60 mi) WSW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 99 km (62 mi) WSW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 108 km (67 mi) WSW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.