QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

10 km S of Narrows, Virginia

· 20 km deep · released about 420 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Giles County 14 kmPulaski County 22 kmRadford city 27 kmBland County 29 kmMercer County 31 kmMontgomery County 39 kmMonroe County 42 kmWythe County 44 kmSummers County 46 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
20 km below the surface
Felt
48 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Giles County, 14 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1835 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 48 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 420 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 36,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 26,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 420 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 37.2403, -80.8243. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Giles County, VA 14 km (9 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Giles County
Pulaski County, VA 22 km (14 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Pulaski County
Radford city, VA 27 km (17 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Radford city
Bland County, VA 29 km (18 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bland County
Mercer County, WV 31 km (19 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Mercer County
Montgomery County, VA 39 km (24 mi) W of here earthquakes near Montgomery County

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

Aftershocks so far

4 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

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.