QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 4.7mb

194 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 4.7 earthquake was recorded 194 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands at 09:41 UTC on 2017-07-22, 17 km deep.

· 17 km deep · released about 170 tons of TNT

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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 4.7 (mb)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3319 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 158 km (98 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 170 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 45× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 32× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 4.7 about 170 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 350× 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 (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. The previous largest was M 4.4 on 2016-02-06.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

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 20.0937, -65.0440. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.7 184 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  2. 2.7 164 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  3. 3.4 175 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.3 163 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  5. 3.8 152 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.4 156 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 2.8 163 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.2 173 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.2 147 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.2 Puerto Rico region
  11. 3.4 160 km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico
  12. 3.2 148 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 2.6 151 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.3 146 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.3 180 km NNE of Vieques, 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.