QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.0md

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

· 21 km deep · released about 920 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 78 kmFajardo Municipio 82 kmLuquillo Municipio 91 kmRío Grande Municipio 96 kmCeiba Municipio 97 kmLoíza Municipio 102 kmVieques Municipio 103 kmCanóvanas Municipio 106 kmNaguabo Municipio 107 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 3.0 (md)
Depth
21 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 78 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours ago

A magnitude 3.0 earthquake was recorded 79 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands at 09:18 UTC on 2026-10-03. 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 920 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 16,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 12,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.0 about 920 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 5.0 on 2021-02-06 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.1 91 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 41 km ENE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 46 km NE of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 49 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.1 107 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 41 km NE of this epicentre
  5. 5.1 122 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico · 45 km NNW 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 19.0192, -65.1897. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culebra Municipio, PR 78 km (48 mi) S earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Fajardo Municipio, PR 82 km (51 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 91 km (56 mi) SW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 96 km (60 mi) SW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Ceiba Municipio, PR 97 km (60 mi) SSW earthquakes near Ceiba Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 102 km (63 mi) SW earthquakes near Loíza 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.