QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

5 km ESE of Unicoi, Tennessee

· 2.5 km deep · released about 100 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Unicoi County 13 kmCarter County 20 kmMitchell County 22 kmWashington County 22 kmYancey County 32 kmAvery County 36 kmSullivan County 37 kmGreene County 49 kmJohnson County 50 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
2.5 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Unicoi County, 13 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3104 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 100 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 150,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 110,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 9.4× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 100 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.

Where

Epicentre 36.1728, -82.2995. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Unicoi County, TN 13 km (8 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Unicoi County
Carter County, TN 20 km (12 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Carter County
Mitchell County, NC 22 km (13 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Mitchell County
Washington County, TN 22 km (14 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Washington County
Yancey County, NC 32 km (20 mi) N of here earthquakes near Yancey County
Avery County, NC 36 km (22 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Avery County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 6 km WSW of Newland, North Carolina
  2. 2.3 2 km ENE of Greeneville, Tennessee
  3. 1.8 8 km W of Bakersville, North Carolina
  4. 1.9 1 km SW of Fall Branch, Tennessee
  5. 2.2 8 km WNW of Roan Mountain, Tennessee
  6. 1.8 12 km N of Old Fort, North Carolina
  7. 2.0 7 km N of Spruce Pine, North Carolina
  8. 1.8 9 km E of Bakersville, North Carolina
  9. 1.6 7 km SSW of Banner Hill, Tennessee
  10. 2.4 9 km SSW of Banner Hill, Tennessee
  11. 2.8 8 km SW of Banner Hill, Tennessee
  12. 2.3 6 km N of Greeneville, Tennessee
  13. 2.0 0 km SSE of Spruce Pine, North Carolina
  14. 2.5 11 km S of Tusculum, Tennessee
  15. 1.6 8 km SSE of Banner Hill, Tennessee

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.