Small Earthquake Recorded Sunday Night In Virginia

RICHMOND, VA — A 2.3 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of Virginia late Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor was registered at 10:11 p.m. Sunday with the epicenter located 6 kilometers from Goochland, Virginia, near Richmond. The USGS reports that people in Rockville, Maryland, felt the quake.

On Dec. 22, 2016, a 2.2 magnitude earthquake was registered with the epicenter located 18 kilometers from Ashland, Virginia. A 2.3 quake centered nine miles south of Louisa, Va. and 27 miles northwest of Short Pump, Virginia, was reported just over a year ago.

Since at least 1774, people in central Virginia have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones, the USGS noted. The largest damaging earthquake (magnitude 5.8) in the seismic zone occurred in 2011. Smaller earthquakes that cause little or no damage are felt each year or two.

The 5.8-magnitude quake felt by Northern Virginia hit August 23, 2011, when, as the USGS notes:

"Tens of millions of people all over the East Coast and southeastern Canada suddenly felt the earth shaking from the largest earthquake in that area since the M5.8 earthquake in 1944 near Cornwall and Massena, New York. When the earth stopped shaking, more than 148,000 people reported their experience of the earthquake on the Did You Feel It? Web site representing an area occupied by one-third of the U.S. population."

That quake did millions of dollars in damage, including to the National Cathedral, the Armed Forces Retirement Home, and the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., as well as minor to major damage to almost 600 residential properties.

The 5.8 earthquake was centered near the town of Mineral, Va., about 65 km northwest of Richmond at a depth of about 6-8 km.
Location of Sunday night's temblor (star) via USGS map:

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