QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

3 km SSE of Brookford, North Carolina

· 1.3 km deep · released about 8.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Catawba County 11 kmLincoln County 23 kmAlexander County 31 kmBurke County 35 kmCaldwell County 36 kmCleveland County 43 kmIredell County 44 kmGaston County 45 kmRutherford 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
1.3 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Catawba County, 11 km E
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2891 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 35.6745, -81.3310. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Catawba County, NC 11 km (7 mi) W of here earthquakes near Catawba County
Lincoln County, NC 23 km (14 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lincoln County
Alexander County, NC 31 km (19 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alexander County
Burke County, NC 35 km (22 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Burke County
Caldwell County, NC 36 km (23 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Caldwell County
Cleveland County, NC 43 km (27 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Cleveland County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 13 km NNW of Cedar Rock, North Carolina
  2. 1.8 3 km SE of Troutman, North Carolina
  3. 1.8 North Carolina
  4. 2.0 3 km ESE of Catawba, North Carolina
  5. 2.1 3 km ESE of Catawba, North Carolina
  6. 2.6 6 km N of Morganton, North Carolina
  7. 2.0 5 km W of Statesville, North Carolina
  8. 1.6 2 km N of Catawba, North Carolina
  9. 1.7 6 km ESE of Mountain View, North Carolina
  10. 2.1 12 km NNW of Cedar Rock, North Carolina
  11. 2.4 7 km WSW of Newton, 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.