QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

14 km S of Louisa, Virginia

· 5.1 km deep · released about 77 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Louisa County 9 kmGoochland County 21 kmFluvanna County 26 kmOrange County 39 kmPowhatan County 39 kmSpotsylvania County 43 kmCharlottesville city 46 kmHanover County 47 kmCumberland County 48 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
5.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Louisa County, 9 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3760 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 77 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 77 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.

Where

Epicentre 37.8982, -77.9968. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Louisa County, VA 9 km (6 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Louisa County
Goochland County, VA 21 km (13 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Goochland County
Fluvanna County, VA 26 km (16 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Fluvanna County
Orange County, VA 39 km (24 mi) S of here earthquakes near Orange County
Powhatan County, VA 39 km (25 mi) N of here earthquakes near Powhatan County
Spotsylvania County, VA 43 km (27 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Spotsylvania County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 3 km SW of Wyndham, Virginia
  2. 2.3 1 km NE of Wyndham, Virginia
  3. 2.8 1 km NNE of Wyndham, Virginia
  4. 1.8 9 km S of Louisa, Virginia
  5. 2.3 18 km ENE of Cumberland, Virginia
  6. 2.3 4 km N of Glen Allen, Virginia
  7. 2.2 Virginia
  8. 1.6 16 km S of Louisa, Virginia
  9. 2.3 15 km S of Louisa, Virginia
  10. 2.3 16 km S of Louisa, Virginia
  11. 2.3 2 km WSW of Columbia, Virginia
  12. 1.8 9 km S of Louisa, Virginia
  13. 2.4 13 km NW of Ashland, Virginia
  14. 2.2 8 km ENE of Cumberland, Virginia
  15. 2.2 6 km WNW of Ashland, Virginia

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.