QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

7 km NNE of Benton, Tennessee

· 20 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Polk County 15 kmMcMinn County 21 kmBradley County 24 kmMeigs County 36 kmMonroe County 41 kmFannin County 49 kmMurray County 50 kmRhea County 51 kmCherokee County 51 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
20 km below the surface
Felt
4 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Polk County, 15 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2065 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 4 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 40 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 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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 35.2313, -84.6147. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Polk County, TN 15 km (9 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Polk County
McMinn County, TN 21 km (13 mi) S of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Bradley County, TN 24 km (15 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Meigs County, TN 36 km (22 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Monroe County, TN 41 km (25 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Fannin County, GA 49 km (30 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Fannin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 14 km ENE of Ducktown, Tennessee
  2. 2.0 Tennessee
  3. 2.1 2 km WNW of Niota, Tennessee
  4. 2.2 4 km ENE of Madisonville, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 1 km ENE of Dayton, Tennessee
  6. 1.8 4 km SW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  7. 2.2 2 km NW of Eton, Georgia
  8. 1.9 8 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  9. 2.5 7 km WSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 15 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  11. 2.2 4 km SSE of Lakesite, Tennessee
  12. 1.5 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  13. 1.9 7 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  14. 2.0 11 km NNE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  15. 2.0 8 km SSE of Vonore, 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 3,000 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.