QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8ml

Virgin Islands

Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded in the Virgin Islands, at 11:57 am AST on 23 December 2021 (15:57 UTC), 35 km deep.

· 35 km deep · released about 480 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Culebra Municipio 108 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 2.8 (ml)
Depth
35 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Culebra Municipio, 108 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1716 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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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 480 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 32,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 480 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 in our catalogue was M 4.7 on 2018-04-06 — about 710 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 18.6370, -64.3415. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Culebra Municipio, PR 108 km (67 mi) WSW earthquakes near Culebra Municipio
Vieques Municipio, PR 128 km (80 mi) WSW earthquakes near Vieques Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.5 Virgin Islands
  2. 3.3 72 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.6 61 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.4 25 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.6 57 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.8 63 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 4.4 Virgin Islands
  8. 3.1 59 km ENE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.6 Virgin Islands
  10. 2.9 65 km E of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.8 63 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.5 60 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.4 86 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.4 64 km NE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.4 73 km ENE of Cruz Bay, 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.