QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

3 km W of Irmo, South Carolina

· 4.5 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lexington County 22 kmRichland County 30 kmFairfield County 36 kmNewberry County 42 kmSaluda County 48 kmCalhoun County 61 kmKershaw County 64 kmChester County 67 kmAiken County 71 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
4.5 km below the surface
Felt
110 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Lexington County, 22 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 115 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 110 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 40 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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 34.0857, -81.2200. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lexington County, SC 22 km (14 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Lexington County
Richland County, SC 30 km (19 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Richland County
Fairfield County, SC 36 km (22 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Fairfield County
Newberry County, SC 42 km (26 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Newberry County
Saluda County, SC 48 km (30 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

7 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

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.