BUCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — Just after 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, a 3.0 magnitude earthquake occurred five miles south of Dillwyn, Virginia in Buckingham County, with the small quake felt by residents not just in Virginia but in parts of North Carolina, Maryland and even Pennsylvania. Luckily, there have been no reports of damage or injuries due to the earthquake.
While earthquakes along the East Coast are rare compared to other parts of the world, they do happen.
The piedmont region, which extends through central Virginia, is a part of the Central Virginia Seismic Zone (CVSZ). It is in this zone where small earthquakes measuring between 2.0 and 3.0 on the Richter scale are somewhat common due to a build up of stress within the earth’s crust.
One of the stronger earthquakes in recent years to occur in this zone struck in 2011 with a magnitude of 5.8 on the Richter scale. The 2011 earthquake was felt by dozens of states and even in some Canadian providences. The earthquake, which was centered around 38 miles northwest of Richmond, and the shaking caused several injuries and millions of dollars in damage to a number of structures, including the Washington Monument in D.C.
A magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded in February 2020, also in Louisa County.
Earthquakes are measured on the Richter scale, which is a logarithmic scale that has no upper or lower limit. With the scale being logarithmic that also means that as the rating goes up a whole number, the amplitude of the earthquake increases tenfold.