QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.2md

11 km NE of Peterstown, West Virginia

· 18 km deep · released about 1,900 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monroe County 16 kmGiles County 17 kmSummers County 24 kmMercer County 36 kmRadford city 41 kmCraig County 42 kmMontgomery County 43 kmPulaski County 46 kmRoanoke 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 3.2 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
529 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Monroe County, 16 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2527 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 529 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,900 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1,900 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2× more

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 37.4728, -80.7030. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monroe County, WV 16 km (10 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Giles County, VA 17 km (11 mi) N of here earthquakes near Giles County
Summers County, WV 24 km (15 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Summers County
Mercer County, WV 36 km (23 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Mercer County
Radford city, VA 41 km (26 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Radford city
Craig County, VA 42 km (26 mi) W of here earthquakes near Craig County

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

Aftershocks so far

13 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. 2.8 10 km S of Narrows, Virginia
  8. 2.3 10 km NW of Pulaski, Virginia
  9. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  10. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  11. 2.1 20 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  12. 2.6 13 km E of Meadow Bridge, West Virginia
  13. 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.