QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

7 km N of Richwood, West Virginia

· 9.8 km deep · released about 82 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Webster County 23 kmNicholas County 23 kmGreenbrier County 42 kmPocahontas County 46 kmBraxton County 48 kmClay County 51 kmFayette County 56 kmAlleghany County 73 kmUpshur County 73 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
9.8 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Webster County, 23 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 901 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 82 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 5.8 180,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 82 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 38.2928, -80.5382. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Webster County, WV 23 km (14 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Webster County
Nicholas County, WV 23 km (14 mi) E of here earthquakes near Nicholas County
Greenbrier County, WV 42 km (26 mi) N of here earthquakes near Greenbrier County
Pocahontas County, WV 46 km (29 mi) W of here earthquakes near Pocahontas County
Braxton County, WV 48 km (30 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Braxton County
Clay County, WV 51 km (32 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Clay County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 6 km NW of Tioga, West Virginia
  2. 2.3 7 km NNE of Falling Spring, 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.