QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.8md

4 km WSW of Irmo, South Carolina

· 3.9 km deep · released about 550 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lexington County 21 kmRichland County 31 kmFairfield County 37 kmNewberry County 41 kmSaluda County 47 kmCalhoun County 61 kmKershaw County 65 kmChester County 68 kmAiken County 69 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
3.9 km below the surface
Felt
837 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Nearest
Lexington County, 21 km S
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 144 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 837 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 550 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 28,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 19,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.7× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 550 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 34.0770, -81.2292. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lexington County, SC 21 km (13 mi) N of here earthquakes near Lexington County
Richland County, SC 31 km (19 mi) W of here earthquakes near Richland County
Fairfield County, SC 37 km (23 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fairfield County
Newberry County, SC 41 km (26 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Newberry County
Saluda County, SC 47 km (29 mi) E of here earthquakes near Saluda County
Calhoun County, SC 61 km (38 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Calhoun County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  2. 1.9 19 km NW of Winnsboro, South Carolina
  3. 1.9 11 km N of Irmo, South Carolina
  4. 2.4 18 km NW of Winnsboro, South Carolina
  5. 2.3 17 km NW of Winnsboro, South Carolina
  6. 1.7 19 km S of Gayle Mill, South Carolina
  7. 2.3 18 km NW of Winnsboro, South Carolina
  8. 2.1 3 km W of Irmo, South Carolina
  9. 2.2 5 km SSE of Lake Murray of Richland, South Carolina
  10. 3.0 5 km WSW of Irmo, South Carolina
  11. 1.8 5 km WSW of Irmo, South Carolina
  12. 2.0 5 km WSW of Irmo, 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.