QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

7 km WSW of Newton, North Carolina

· 1.5 km deep · released about 100 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Catawba County 7 kmLincoln County 19 kmAlexander County 32 kmBurke County 39 kmCaldwell County 41 kmGaston County 41 kmIredell County 42 kmCleveland County 42 kmMecklenburg 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
1.5 km below the surface
Felt
79 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Catawba County, 7 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2773 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 79 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

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 35.6473, -81.2940. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Catawba County, NC 7 km (5 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Catawba County
Lincoln County, NC 19 km (12 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Lincoln County
Alexander County, NC 32 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Alexander County
Burke County, NC 39 km (24 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Burke County
Caldwell County, NC 41 km (25 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Caldwell County
Gaston County, NC 41 km (25 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Gaston County

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

Aftershocks so far

10 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

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.