Earthquake on the East Coast

Yesterday afternoon at 1:51 EST the east coast experienced a 5.8 earthquake centered near Mineral, Virginia. This earthquake was felt as far away as New York City. The image below is from the USGS and shows the intensity felt in the immediate area of the quake.

If you would like to read the technical jargon on this quake or see more maps, the USGS has a web page for this quake.

You will notice on the map above that the Washington, DC area is in yellow, indicating a stronger intensity in the quake in that area. This has resulted in the shutdown of the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral.

Interestingly, yesterday also brought a 5.3 magnitude quake to southern Colorado, but unlike the quake on the east coast, those of us here in central Colorado probably did not feel this quake.

This graph shows the distance in kilometers from the epicenter that individuals felt this quake, a similar graph for the Virginia quake still has reports of 2 on the intensity scale out to 1000 km (621.4 miles for the curious).

Want to see a map of all the various earthquakes happening in the world? The Earth Sciences Library has a kiosk right inside the entrance which lights up with the various quakes.