QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

9 km N of Independence, Virginia

· 9.0 km deep · released about 74 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Grayson County 9 kmGalax city 20 kmWythe County 22 kmAlleghany County 24 kmCarroll County 36 kmSmyth County 39 kmAshe County 44 kmBland County 47 kmSurry County 52 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
9.0 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Grayson County, 9 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1924 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 74 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 200,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 13× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 74 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 36.7060, -81.1358. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Grayson County, VA 9 km (6 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Grayson County
Galax city, VA 20 km (13 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Galax city
Wythe County, VA 22 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Wythe County
Alleghany County, NC 24 km (15 mi) N of here earthquakes near Alleghany County
Carroll County, VA 36 km (23 mi) W of here earthquakes near Carroll County
Smyth County, VA 39 km (24 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Smyth County

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

Aftershocks so far

23 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.1 on 2020-08-09 — it released about 18,000 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.