It wasn’t just the Metallica concert at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg causing seismic waves this week, a 3.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded near Dillwyn on Tuesday.
The earthquake’s center was just over five miles outside of Dillwyn in Buckingham County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, and occurred at approximately 1:08 p.m.
The shaking from the earthquake could be felt for approximately 30 miles. Many people who heard it thought perhaps a plane had crashed nearby.
There were no damage reports.
It’s not uncommon for Virginians to feel small earthquakes, according to the USGS. The largest earthquake (5.8 magnitude) in the seismic zone occurred in 2011 in Mineral in Louisa County.
Smaller quakes generally cause little to no damage, and Virginians experience them two to three times a week somewhere in Virginia, according to experts.
Beneath Central Virginia is bedrock that was formed when continents collided hundreds of millions of years ago, raising the Appalachian Mountains. Most of the rest of the bedrock formed when the supercontinent rifted apart approximately 200 million years ago to form what is now the northeastern U.S., the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, according to the USGS.
Augusta County registered three quakes in 2023
Closer to home, in Stuarts Draft, three earthquakes were recorded in 2023, over the span of eight days. All three earthquakes in Augusta County measured between 2.2 and 2.4 magnitude.
At the time, Martin C. Chapman, a Virginia Tech research professor, said that “a series of small shocks in a small area” can turn out to be “foreshocks for a much larger earthquake.”
However, he said, that is not always the case.
“A series of small shocks in a small area that are not followed by a significantly larger shock is a common occurrence. We call these sequences earthquake swarms, and there are common in the eastern U.S., particularly in the Appalachian region.
“What we are seeing near Stuarts Draft so far is a typical swarm,” he said. “It may last for weeks, or months, and in a few cases, years. Usually, the earthquakes are quite similar in terms of magnitude, and they are confined to a few miles across.”
Historically, damaging shocks happen in Virginia once every 50 to 100 years. They have occurred in the Valley-Blue Ridge geologic/physiographic regions of western Virginia (Giles County) and in Central Virginia (Charlottesville to Richmond, centered within 50 km on either side of the James River).
Second earthquake this week: Metallica
The Metallica song “Enter Sandman” is played at home football games in Blacksburg at Lane Stadium. Students and fans generally jump up and down to the song, and experts say it registers as a small 1.5 magnitude earthquake on a seismograph.
Metallica performed a live concert Wednesday night, and the Virginia Tech seismograph located near the campus was rocking, registering a small earthquake, making it the second quake for the state this week.
The Virginia Tech campus is approximately 100 miles away from the earthquake that occurred on Tuesday near Dillwyn.
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Crystal Graham
