Maryland Geological Survey: Local Seismic Events Archive

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Local Seismic Events
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	The determination of earthquake events is based on data collected from the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network (LCSN). Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) analyzes the data and notifies Maryland Geological Survey when an earthquake has been detected. Maryland Geological Survey does not determine events. Information about detected events will be posted here as soon as possible. We will not list on this page events outside the Maryland region. For information on other earthquake events see the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, and other sites listed on our earthquake education pages. For recent, globally significant events, see the Global Events page. The seismometer used to detect seismic data is located in central Maryland.

2011
Date	Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Time	12:51:04 PM (EST); 17:51:04 (UTC) August 23, 2011
Epicenter	Mineral, VA 8 km (5 miles) SSW (195°) from Mineral, VA 11 km (7 miles) SSE (148°) from Louisa, VA 29 km (18 miles) NE (45°) from Columbia, VA 61 km (38 miles) NW (317°) from Richmond, VA 135 km (84 miles) SW (217°) from Washington, DC Location: 37.936°N, 77.933°W Depth: 6 km (3.7 miles)
Magnitude	5.8
Comments
Widely felt along the US eastern seabord. For a comprehensive analysis see http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2011/08/23/the-mineral-va-earthquake-of-august-23-2011/. The USGS report is located at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/se082311a.php.

2010
Date	Friday, July 16, 2010
Time	05:04:47 AM (EST); 09:04:47 (UTC) July 16, 2010
Epicenter	Potomac-Shenandoah Region, MD 15 km (10 miles) NW of Rockville, Maryland 25 km (15 miles) ENE of Leesburg, Virginia 40 km (25 miles) NW of WASHINGTON, D.C. 75 km (45 miles) WNW of ANNAPOLIS, Maryland Location: 39.187°N, 77.286°W Depth: 5 km (3.1 miles)
Magnitude	3.4
Comments
For a full report see http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010yua6.php

2009
Date	Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Time	08:58:51 AM (EST); 13:58:51 (UTC) September 29, 2009
Epicenter	Northeastern Maryland 7 km (4 miles) NNE (15°) from Bel Air North, MD 8 km (5 miles) N (4°) from Bel Air, MD 11 km (7 miles) E (87°) from Jarrettsville, MD 12 km (7 miles) N (350°) from Bel Air South, MD 41 km (25 miles) NE (35°) from Baltimore, MD 96 km (60 miles) NE (37°) from Washington, DC Location: 39.607°N, 76.342°W Depth: 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Magnitude	1.6
Comments
Earth movement was reported to Maryland Geological Survey by several Harford County residents. For a full report see http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/ld1025025.php#details .

Date	Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Time	08:44:43 AM (EST); 13:44:43 (UTC) July 01, 2009
Epicenter	Southwestern New Jersey 39.644°N, 75.483°W 3 km (2 miles) ESE (114°) from Pennsville, NJ 7 km (4 miles) S (187°) from Carneys Point, NJ 7 km (5 miles) ESE (108°) from New Castle, DE 13 km (8 miles) SSE (153°) from Wilmington, DE 49 km (30 miles) SW (216°) from Philadelphia, PA
Magnitude	2.8
Comments
Please refer to the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program for more information.
2008
Date	December 27, 2008
Time	0:04:34 AM (EST); 5:04:34 (UTC)
Epicenter	9 km (6 miles) W of Lancaster,PA. 40 deg. 6.9 min. N (40.114N), 76 deg. 24.2 min. W ( 76.403W).
Magnitude	3.4 - duration magnitude (Md)
Comments
Details of the 0:04:34 AM earthquake can be found on the LDEO Recent Earthquakes in the Northeast web site. Did you feel this earthquake? Please report your experience to the US Geological Survey's earthquake report page.
2005
Date	February 23, 2005
Time	09:22:38 AM EST; 14:22:38 (UTC)
Epicenter	SE Baltimore near Fort McHenry, Dundalk, Glen Burnie, Pasadena, Gambrills ( -76.58 deg. lon, 39.26 deg lat) Some maps of the epicenter region can be found on the USGS Earthquake Hazards pages.
Magnitude	2.0-2.1
Comments
Details of the 09:22:38 AM earthquake can be found on the USGS Earthquake Hazards web site. Another page with similar information can be found at the Earthquake Hazards page. From MGS geologist Jim Reger: There was one confirmed earthquake Wednesday morning at approximately 9:22 a.m. EST. The second two events (about 11:01 and 12:08 pm) looked very similar to the first on the raw seismograph display, but once we were able to process the three signals with some analytical software, it was clear the second two were not earthquakes. Regional seismograph stations and the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center concur that there was only the one earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude estimate of 2.0. Did you feel this earthquake? Please report your experience to the US Geological Survey's earthquake report page.
2003
Date	December 9, 2003
Time	3:59:14 PM EST (20:59:14 UTC )
Epicenter	28 miles west of the Richmond in rural Powhatan County, VA
Magnitude	4.5
Comments
A look at USGS's Did You Feel It? page, indicates that this moderate quake was felt throughout Maryland. No damage was reported. The earthquake was apparently two events space about 12 seconds apart. Some information about this event may be found on http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DMR3/majorvaearthquakes.shtml or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Seismic_Zone
2002
Date	March 22, 2002
Time	12:00:07 PM EST (19:00:07 UTC )
Epicenter	near the intersection of US 29 and MD 32, Columbia, MD
Magnitude	1.0-2.0 (estimated)
Comments
Analysis of the Soldiers Delight station data indicate that there is a high probably of an earthquake at 19:00:07 UTC (14:00:07 EST) 25 km from Soldiers Delight (about the distance from Soldiers Delight to the intersection of US 29 and MD 32). This event was not detected by seismometers in adjacent states. After the event at 19:00:07 UTC, there is event at 19:00:27 that looks like it could have been almost exclusively compression energy with a noticeable surface wave: a classic signatures of an explosive source.
2001
Date	December 18, 2001
Time	1:34 PM EST (18:33:58 UTC)
Epicenter	not defined, probably Columbia, MD
Magnitude	1.5-2.0 (estimated)
Comments
On the afternoon of December 18, 2001, several residents living in Owen Brown Village near Columbia (Howard County) reported a possible earthquake. The Maryland seismic network seismometer detected a magnitude 1.5-2.0 earthquake at approximately 13:34 EST (18:34 UTC) within a 20-25 km of the network seismometer. Monitoring stations in surrounding states (PA, VA, DE, TN) did not detect the event; therefore, the precise epicenter cannot be determined. This is the first MD earthquake detected by the Maryland seismic network. The helicorder record to the right was generated from filtered seismic data collected on December 12. The online helicorder record on our Helicorder page does not show this event due to environmental noise in the region at the time of the event.
updated 8/24/11 \| Return to previous page \| Go to the Seismic Network Home Page \|