QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

11 km N of Irmo, South Carolina

· 18 km deep · released about 22 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Fairfield County 23 kmRichland County 30 kmLexington County 34 kmNewberry County 42 kmKershaw County 55 kmSaluda County 56 kmChester County 56 kmCalhoun County 67 kmUnion 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Fairfield County, 23 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 121 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 22 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 680,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 480,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 43× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 22 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 34.1865, -81.1633. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Fairfield County, SC 23 km (15 mi) S of here earthquakes near Fairfield County
Richland County, SC 30 km (19 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Richland County
Lexington County, SC 34 km (21 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Lexington County
Newberry County, SC 42 km (26 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Newberry County
Kershaw County, SC 55 km (34 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kershaw County
Saluda County, SC 56 km (35 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Saluda 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. 2.2 6 km E of Elgin, South Carolina
  2. 1.9 19 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.