QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

9 km N of Richlands, Virginia

· 7.3 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Tazewell County 22 kmBuchanan County 23 kmMcDowell County 26 kmRussell County 38 kmSmyth County 44 kmDickenson County 49 kmWashington County 50 kmWyoming County 52 kmBland County 60 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
7.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Tazewell County, 22 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2327 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 43 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 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 37.1818, -81.7973. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Tazewell County, VA 22 km (13 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Tazewell County
Buchanan County, VA 23 km (15 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Buchanan County
McDowell County, WV 26 km (16 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near McDowell County
Russell County, VA 38 km (24 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Russell County
Smyth County, VA 44 km (27 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Smyth County
Dickenson County, VA 49 km (31 mi) E of here earthquakes near Dickenson County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 3 km NE of Dante, Virginia
  2. 2.6 9 km NNW of Richlands, Virginia
  3. 2.1 11 km NNW of Richlands, Virginia
  4. 2.4 9 km N of Richlands, Virginia
  5. 2.4 10 km NNW of Richlands, Virginia
  6. 2.6 10 km NNW of Richlands, 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.