QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

5 km E of Sweetwater, Tennessee

· 18 km deep · released about 8.7 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Loudon County 18 kmMonroe County 21 kmMcMinn County 27 kmRoane County 30 kmMeigs County 38 kmBlount County 45 kmRhea County 49 kmPolk County 55 kmGraham 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Loudon County, 18 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1951 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 8.7 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 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 35.5923, -84.4047. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Loudon County, TN 18 km (11 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Monroe County, TN 21 km (13 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
McMinn County, TN 27 km (17 mi) NE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Roane County, TN 30 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Roane County
Meigs County, TN 38 km (24 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Blount County, TN 45 km (28 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Blount 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. 1.8 Tennessee
  2. 1.8 4 km NE of Vonore, Tennessee
  3. 2.2 4 km ENE of Madisonville, Tennessee
  4. 1.8 4 km SW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 Tennessee
  6. 2.5 2 km N of Farragut, Tennessee
  7. 1.9 8 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  8. 2.5 7 km WSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  9. 1.5 6 km NNW of Philadelphia, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 6 km E of Vonore, Tennessee
  11. 1.9 15 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  12. 1.5 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  13. 2.0 11 km NNE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  14. 2.4 0 km NE of Alcoa, 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 14,000 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.