QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

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

Yes. A magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 118 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, at 7:18 am AST on 6 July 2020 (11:18 UTC), 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 1,300 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N
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 3.1 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fajardo Municipio, 132 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2252 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 41 km (25 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 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× 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 since 2016 was M 4.9 on 2018-11-14 — about 500 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 13 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.2 131 km NNE of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 48 km E of this epicentre
  2. 6.1 91 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 30 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 6.0 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 6 km SSE of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 112 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands · 9 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.3 97 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands · 39 km SE 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 19.4080, -64.9499. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Fajardo Municipio, PR 132 km (82 mi) SSW earthquakes near Fajardo Municipio
Luquillo Municipio, PR 141 km (87 mi) SW earthquakes near Luquillo Municipio
Río Grande Municipio, PR 145 km (90 mi) SW earthquakes near Río Grande Municipio
Loíza Municipio, PR 150 km (93 mi) SW earthquakes near Loíza Municipio
Canóvanas Municipio, PR 155 km (96 mi) SW earthquakes near Canóvanas Municipio
Carolina Municipio, PR 155 km (97 mi) SW earthquakes near Carolina Municipio

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.4 93 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  2. 3.4 99 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  3. 3.2 97 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  4. 3.2 108 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  5. 3.2 110 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  6. 3.4 104 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  7. 3.4 91 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  8. 3.4 86 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  9. 3.4 102 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  10. 3.6 86 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  11. 3.5 90 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  12. 3.4 98 km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  13. 3.4 102 km N of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
  14. 3.8 114 km N of Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands
  15. 3.6 145 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.