QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

5 km ESE of Cedar Rock, North Carolina

· 0.2 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Caldwell County 11 kmAlexander County 20 kmCatawba County 34 kmBurke County 35 kmWilkes County 37 kmWatauga County 44 kmIredell County 49 kmAvery County 49 kmLincoln County 52 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
0.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Caldwell County, 11 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2914 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 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 35.9318, -81.3985. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Caldwell County, NC 11 km (7 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Caldwell County
Alexander County, NC 20 km (12 mi) W of here earthquakes near Alexander County
Catawba County, NC 34 km (21 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Catawba County
Burke County, NC 35 km (21 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Burke County
Wilkes County, NC 37 km (23 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Wilkes County
Watauga County, NC 44 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Watauga County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 13 km NNW of Cedar Rock, North Carolina
  2. 1.8 9 km SSE of West Jefferson, North Carolina
  3. 2.1 5 km NNE of Blowing Rock, North Carolina
  4. 1.8 North Carolina
  5. 2.0 3 km ESE of Catawba, North Carolina
  6. 2.1 3 km ESE of Catawba, North Carolina
  7. 2.6 6 km N of Morganton, North Carolina
  8. 1.6 10 km NNW of Hays, North Carolina
  9. 1.8 10 km NNW of Hays, North Carolina
  10. 2.0 5 km W of Statesville, North Carolina
  11. 1.6 2 km N of Catawba, North Carolina
  12. 2.0 3 km WSW of Millers Creek, North Carolina
  13. 1.9 9 km NNW of Millers Creek, North Carolina
  14. 1.7 6 km ESE of Mountain View, North Carolina
  15. 2.1 12 km NNW of Cedar Rock, North Carolina

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.