Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have each partnered with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to find new sand sources using existing mapping data. As part of the federal Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, which allocated $13.6 million to the bureau, all three states will each receive $200,000 for the two-year project.
Delaware and surrounding areas experienced an earthquake event on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 23, 2011. According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck at 1:51 p.m. in central Virginia, in an area referred to as “the Central Virginia Seismic Zone” because of its relatively active earthquake activity for the region. The epicenter was located five miles south-southwest of Mineral, Virginia, with the quake was focused at a depth of 6 km (3.7 miles) below the surface (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/se082311a.html). The Virginia Geological Survey reports that this is the largest Virginia earthquake known in historic times. A few small aftershocks have occurred in the hours afterward.