QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

Earthquake near Louisa, VA

USGS: 7 km SW of Mineral, Virginia

3:42 am EDT, Jul 5, 2018 · · 3.1 km deep · released about 12 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Louisa Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Louisa County 2 kmGoochland County 27 kmFluvanna County 32 kmOrange County 33 kmSpotsylvania County 36 kmPowhatan County 45 kmHanover County 47 kmCharlottesville city 47 kmAlbemarle County 53 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
3:42 am EDT on 5 July 2018 ()
Where
9 km (5 mi) SSE of Louisa, VA · earthquakes near Louisa
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
3.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Louisa County, 2 km N
Nearest mapped fault
Central Virginia seismic zone, 14 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3012 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 9 km (5 mi) SSE of Louisa, VA, at 3:42 am EDT on 5 July 2018 (07:42 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Gordonsville.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 12 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 870,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 78× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 12 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.8 11 km SSW of Mineral, Virginia · 6 km SSE 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 37.9568, -77.9598. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Louisa County, VA 2 km (1 mi) N earthquakes near Louisa County
Goochland County, VA 27 km (17 mi) S earthquakes near Goochland County
Fluvanna County, VA 32 km (20 mi) WSW earthquakes near Fluvanna County
Orange County, VA 33 km (20 mi) N earthquakes near Orange County
Spotsylvania County, VA 36 km (23 mi) NE earthquakes near Spotsylvania County
Powhatan County, VA 45 km (28 mi) S earthquakes near Powhatan County

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

Aftershocks so far

22 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 6 km WNW of Ashland, Virginia
  15. 2.0 13 km SW of Goochland, 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.