QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5mw

6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina

· 2.7 km deep · released about 2.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Richland County 22 kmKershaw County 23 kmSumter County 42 kmLee County 44 kmFairfield County 45 kmCalhoun County 55 kmLancaster County 58 kmLexington County 59 kmChester County 70 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 3.5 (mw)
Depth
2.7 km below the surface
Felt
4827 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Richland County, 22 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1427 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 4827 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.6× more

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 34.1668, -80.7287. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Richland County, SC 22 km (14 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Richland County
Kershaw County, SC 23 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Kershaw County
Sumter County, SC 42 km (26 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Sumter County
Lee County, SC 44 km (27 mi) W of here earthquakes near Lee County
Fairfield County, SC 45 km (28 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Fairfield County
Calhoun County, SC 55 km (34 mi) N of here earthquakes near Calhoun County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.3 6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  2. 1.6 6 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  3. 1.9 8 km SE of Elgin, South Carolina
  4. 2.0 7 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  5. 2.5 6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  6. 2.1 6 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  7. 2.3 5 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  8. 2.2 6 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  9. 2.2 6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  10. 1.9 7 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  11. 2.6 5 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  12. 1.7 6 km S of Lugoff, South Carolina
  13. 1.9 7 km SE of Elgin, South Carolina
  14. 2.1 6 km ESE of Elgin, South Carolina
  15. 2.2 6 km SSW of Lugoff, South Carolina

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.