The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed an earthquake shook parts of Northern Virginia Tuesday afternoon.

A magnitude 1.8 "micro" earthquake occurred one mile WSW of Annandale, Va. at 1:30 p.m approximately 6.2 miles below ground.

The earthquake's epicenter was located at (38.828N, 77.234W)

There have been no reports of damage or injuries.

The USGS said the last earthquake in the same general area occurred on September, 29th 1997 near Manassas, Va. Its magnitude was 2.5.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of about 2.0 or less are usually called microearthquakes, and about 1,000 occur around the world each day, said Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

Presgrave said microearthquakes rarely attract attention unless they occur in a large metropolitan area.

"Quakes of this size are strong enough to be felt in dense population areas, especially in high-rise buildings," he said.

On Feb. 23, 2005, there was a similar type event in the Baltimore metropolitan area, as a 2.1 magnitude earthquake was felt strongly and widely. There was a series of seismic events in March and April 1993, in Columbia, Maryland, ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 in magnitude

The largest recorded earthquake centered in Virginia occurred on May 31, 1897 near Giles County. The magnitude was 5.9 and extended from Lynchburg, VA west to Bluefield, WV and from Giles County south to Bristol, TN.

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