QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

5 km ENE of Sweetwater, Tennessee

· 10 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Loudon County 16 kmMonroe County 23 kmRoane County 28 kmMcMinn County 29 kmMeigs County 39 kmBlount County 44 kmRhea County 50 kmPolk County 57 kmAnderson County 59 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loudon County, 16 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1989 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 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 35.6130, -84.3980. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Loudon County, TN 16 km (10 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Monroe County, TN 23 km (14 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Roane County, TN 28 km (18 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Roane County
McMinn County, TN 29 km (18 mi) NE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Meigs County, TN 39 km (25 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Blount County, TN 44 km (27 mi) W of here earthquakes near Blount County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 6 km NNW of Philadelphia, Tennessee
  2. 1.9 6 km E of Vonore, Tennessee
  3. 1.9 15 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  4. 1.5 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 11 km NNE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  6. 2.4 0 km NE of Alcoa, Tennessee
  7. 2.0 8 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  8. 1.5 7 km ESE of Calhoun, Tennessee
  9. 2.2 1 km SE of Alcoa, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 3 km ESE of Etowah, Tennessee
  11. 2.1 1 km SW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  12. 1.6 9 km NNW of Decatur, Tennessee
  13. 1.9 6 km NW of Lenoir City, Tennessee
  14. 2.6 9 km ENE of Garland, Tennessee
  15. 2.4 6 km WNW of Niota, 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 11,000 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.