QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

6 km SSW of Narrows, Virginia

· 4.1 km deep · released about 400 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Giles County 13 kmPulaski County 26 kmMercer County 27 kmBland County 30 kmRadford city 30 kmMonroe County 40 kmMontgomery County 42 kmSummers County 42 kmWythe County 47 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 2.8 (md)
Depth
4.1 km below the surface
Felt
19 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Giles County, 13 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3095 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 19 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 400 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 38,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 27,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 400 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 37.2772, -80.8410. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Giles County, VA 13 km (8 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Giles County
Pulaski County, VA 26 km (16 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Pulaski County
Mercer County, WV 27 km (17 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Mercer County
Bland County, VA 30 km (19 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bland County
Radford city, VA 30 km (19 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Radford city
Monroe County, WV 40 km (25 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe 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. 2.5 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  3. 2.3 2 km N of Pembroke, Virginia
  4. 1.9 16 km ESE of Union, West Virginia
  5. 2.8 10 km S of Narrows, Virginia
  6. 2.2 6 km S of Allisonia, Virginia
  7. 2.3 10 km NW of Pulaski, Virginia
  8. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  9. 2.5 21 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  10. 2.1 20 km W of New Castle, Virginia
  11. 2.4 6 km SW of Oakvale, West Virginia
  12. 3.2 11 km NE of Peterstown, West Virginia
  13. 2.3 6 km ESE of Bland, 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.