QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

12 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee

· 3.9 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Meigs County 14 kmRhea County 21 kmMcMinn County 22 kmRoane County 32 kmLoudon County 39 kmBledsoe County 44 kmMonroe County 46 kmCumberland County 46 kmBradley 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
3.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Meigs County, 14 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2693 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 35.6068, -84.7172. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Meigs County, TN 14 km (9 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Rhea County, TN 21 km (13 mi) E of here earthquakes near Rhea County
McMinn County, TN 22 km (14 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Roane County, TN 32 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Roane County
Loudon County, TN 39 km (24 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Bledsoe County, TN 44 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Bledsoe County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 1 km NW of Niota, Tennessee
  2. 2.0 3 km SE of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  3. 1.9 11 km SSW of Decatur, Tennessee
  4. 1.6 7 km WSW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  5. 2.2 7 km SE of Dayton, Tennessee
  6. 1.6 3 km ENE of Philadelphia, Tennessee
  7. 2.4 16 km E of Spring City, Tennessee
  8. 2.0 3 km SSW of Loudon, Tennessee
  9. 2.1 6 km S of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  10. 2.4 7 km N of Benton, Tennessee
  11. 1.9 Tennessee
  12. 1.5 4 km WSW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  13. 1.9 1 km W of Etowah, Tennessee
  14. 1.9 3 km NNE of Madisonville, Tennessee
  15. 1.9 3 km ESE of Loudon, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.4 on 2018-12-12 — it released about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

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