QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

Earthquake near Mount Airy, NC

USGS: 9 km ESE of Lowgap, North Carolina

9:34 pm EDT, Aug 30, 2020 · · 0.1 km deep · released about 25 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Mount Airy Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Surry County 12 kmGalax city 22 kmCarroll County 25 kmAlleghany County 33 kmYadkin County 40 kmGrayson County 43 kmStokes County 46 kmPatrick County 46 kmWilkes County 49 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
9:34 pm EDT on 30 August 2020 ()
Where
14 km (9 mi) W of Mount Airy, NC · earthquakes near Mount Airy
Magnitude
M 1.9 (md)
Depth
0.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Surry County, 12 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2224 days ago

A magnitude 1.9 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) W of Mount Airy, NC, at 9:34 pm EDT on 30 August 2020 (01:34 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Cana, Toast, Dobson, White Plains, Thurmond, Galax.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 25 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 620,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 440,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 39× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 25 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.1 on 2020-08-09 — about 55,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 36.5077, -80.7663. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Surry County, NC 12 km (8 mi) SE earthquakes near Surry County
Galax city, VA 22 km (14 mi) NW earthquakes near Galax city
Carroll County, VA 25 km (16 mi) N earthquakes near Carroll County
Alleghany County, NC 33 km (20 mi) W earthquakes near Alleghany County
Yadkin County, NC 40 km (25 mi) SSE earthquakes near Yadkin County
Grayson County, VA 43 km (27 mi) WNW earthquakes near Grayson County

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

Aftershocks so far

46 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. 2.6 Virginia-North Carolina border region
  15. 2.7 5 km S of Hillsville, 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.