QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

Alabama

· 11 km deep · released about 6.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N DeKalb County 18 kmJackson County 32 kmDade County 33 kmChattooga County 35 kmWalker County 39 kmFloyd County 58 kmCherokee County 59 kmMarion County 59 kmCatoosa County 61 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.6 (md)
Depth
11 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
DeKalb County, 18 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3319 days ago

A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded at Alabama at 15:37 UTC on 2016-01-09. This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Henagar, Sylvania, Fort Payne, Rainsville, Fyffe.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 34.5988, -85.6993. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
DeKalb County, AL 18 km (11 mi) SSW earthquakes near DeKalb County
Jackson County, AL 32 km (20 mi) NW earthquakes near Jackson County
Dade County, GA 33 km (21 mi) NNE earthquakes near Dade County
Chattooga County, GA 35 km (22 mi) ESE earthquakes near Chattooga County
Walker County, GA 39 km (24 mi) ENE earthquakes near Walker County
Floyd County, GA 58 km (36 mi) SE earthquakes near Floyd County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

54 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.3 6 km WSW of Linwood, Georgia
  2. 2.0 4 km NNE of Trenton, Georgia
  3. 2.2 6 km WNW of Linwood, Georgia
  4. 2.1 5 km E of Trion, Georgia
  5. 2.2 8 km N of Menlo, Georgia
  6. 2.6 8 km N of Menlo, Georgia
  7. 2.3 6 km WSW of Linwood, Georgia
  8. 1.9 5 km E of LaFayette, Georgia
  9. 1.8 2 km SW of Chickamauga, Georgia
  10. 2.3 0 km NNE of Section, Alabama
  11. 2.1 10 km SE of Chickamauga, Georgia
  12. 2.1 6 km SW of Bridgeport, Alabama
  13. 2.3 4 km NE of Stevenson, Alabama
  14. 2.5 7 km ENE of Stevenson, Alabama
  15. 2.0 2 km WNW of Menlo, Georgia

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.