QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

20 km W of New Castle, Virginia

· 10 km deep · released about 47 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Craig County 9 kmRoanoke County 20 kmMonroe County 21 kmSalem city 32 kmMontgomery County 33 kmGiles County 36 kmRoanoke city 40 kmRadford city 44 kmAlleghany County 46 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Craig County, 9 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1511 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 47 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 320,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 20× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 47 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 37.4692, -80.3358. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Craig County, VA 9 km (6 mi) W of here earthquakes near Craig County
Roanoke County, VA 20 km (12 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Roanoke County
Monroe County, WV 21 km (13 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Salem city, VA 32 km (20 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Salem city
Montgomery County, VA 33 km (20 mi) N of here earthquakes near Montgomery County
Giles County, VA 36 km (22 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Giles County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  2. 2.3 8 km WNW of New Castle, Virginia
  3. 2.5 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  4. 2.3 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  5. 1.9 16 km ESE of Union, West Virginia
  6. 2.6 4 km N of Lafayette, Virginia
  7. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  8. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, 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.