QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

6 km ESE of Bland, Virginia

· 2.0 km deep · released about 94 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Bland County 9 kmWythe County 20 kmPulaski County 30 kmMercer County 36 kmGiles County 40 kmRadford city 43 kmTazewell County 46 kmGalax city 48 kmCarroll 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
2.0 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Bland County, 9 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3383 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 94 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 5.8 160,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 10× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 94 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 37.0815, -81.0458. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Bland County, VA 9 km (6 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Bland County
Wythe County, VA 20 km (13 mi) N of here earthquakes near Wythe County
Pulaski County, VA 30 km (18 mi) W of here earthquakes near Pulaski County
Mercer County, WV 36 km (22 mi) S of here earthquakes near Mercer County
Giles County, VA 40 km (25 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Giles County
Radford city, VA 43 km (27 mi) W of here earthquakes near Radford city

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  2. 2.6 Virginia-North Carolina border region
  3. 2.7 5 km S of Hillsville, Virginia
  4. 2.5 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  5. 2.3 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  6. 2.8 10 km S of Narrows, Virginia
  7. 2.3 9 km N of Independence, Virginia
  8. 2.0 9 km N of Independence, Virginia
  9. 2.2 6 km S of Allisonia, Virginia
  10. 2.3 10 km NW of Pulaski, Virginia
  11. 2.4 6 km SW of Oakvale, West 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.