QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

16 km W of Sparta, North Carolina

· 4.2 km deep · released about 270 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alleghany County 15 kmAshe County 18 kmGrayson County 20 kmWilkes County 34 kmGalax city 40 kmSmyth County 45 kmWatauga County 46 kmWythe County 50 kmJohnson County 50 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 2.6 (md)
Depth
4.2 km below the surface
Felt
53 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Nearest
Alleghany County, 15 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2114 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 53 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 270 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 57,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 40,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.6× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 270 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 36.4900, -81.3025. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alleghany County, NC 15 km (9 mi) W of here earthquakes near Alleghany County
Ashe County, NC 18 km (11 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Ashe County
Grayson County, VA 20 km (12 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Grayson County
Wilkes County, NC 34 km (21 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Wilkes County
Galax city, VA 40 km (25 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Galax city
Smyth County, VA 45 km (28 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Smyth County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 3 km WNW of Thurmond, North Carolina
  2. 2.2 9 km ESE of Independence, Virginia
  3. 2.2 7 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  4. 2.1 4 km WSW of Lowgap, North Carolina
  5. 2.2 16 km E of Jefferson, North Carolina
  6. 2.0 8 km S of Sparta, North Carolina
  7. 2.2 7 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  8. 2.2 6 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  9. 2.1 1 km ESE of Sparta, North Carolina
  10. 2.3 5 km SE of Sparta, North Carolina
  11. 2.3 2 km E of Sparta, North Carolina
  12. 1.5 8 km W of Lowgap, North Carolina
  13. 2.3 8 km W of Lowgap, North Carolina
  14. 1.8 9 km SSE of West Jefferson, North Carolina
  15. 2.6 Virginia-North Carolina border region

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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.1 on 2020-08-09 — it released about 5,100 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.