QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

8 km W of Lowgap, North Carolina

· 6.8 km deep · released about 82 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Alleghany County 16 kmGalax city 17 kmGrayson County 27 kmSurry County 27 kmCarroll County 32 kmWilkes County 39 kmWythe County 44 kmYadkin County 48 kmAshe County 49 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
6.8 km below the surface
Felt
8 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Alleghany County, 16 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 301 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 8 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 36.5190, -80.9625. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Alleghany County, NC 16 km (10 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Alleghany County
Galax city, VA 17 km (10 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Galax city
Grayson County, VA 27 km (17 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Grayson County
Surry County, NC 27 km (17 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Surry County
Carroll County, VA 32 km (20 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Carroll County
Wilkes County, NC 39 km (24 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Wilkes 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. 1.9 3 km WNW of Thurmond, North Carolina
  2. 2.2 9 km ESE of Independence, Virginia
  3. 2.2 7 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  4. 2.1 4 km WSW of Lowgap, North Carolina
  5. 2.2 16 km E of Jefferson, North Carolina
  6. 2.0 8 km S of Sparta, North Carolina
  7. 2.2 7 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  8. 2.2 6 km SSE of Sparta, North Carolina
  9. 2.1 1 km ESE of Sparta, North Carolina
  10. 2.3 5 km SE of Sparta, North Carolina
  11. 2.3 2 km E of Sparta, North Carolina
  12. 1.5 8 km W of Lowgap, North 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 5.1 on 2020-08-09 — it released about 16,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.