QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

13 km E of Benton, Tennessee

· 12 km deep · released about 7.8 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Polk County 7 kmMcMinn County 30 kmBradley County 32 kmFannin County 38 kmMonroe County 39 kmCherokee County 41 kmMurray County 46 kmMeigs County 47 kmGilmer County 53 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
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Polk County, 7 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1761 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 7.8 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 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.8 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 35.1683, -84.5103. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Polk County, TN 7 km (4 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Polk County
McMinn County, TN 30 km (19 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Bradley County, TN 32 km (20 mi) E of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Fannin County, GA 38 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Fannin County
Monroe County, TN 39 km (24 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Cherokee County, NC 41 km (25 mi) W of here earthquakes near Cherokee 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. 1.6 9 km NNW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  2. 2.0 15 km ESE of Wildwood Lake, Tennessee
  3. 1.9 1 km E of Collegedale, Tennessee
  4. 1.6 2 km E of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  5. 1.7 14 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  6. 2.0 0 km S of Niota, Tennessee
  7. 1.6 7 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  8. 1.5 2 km NNW of Madisonville, Tennessee
  9. 1.7 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  10. 2.4 7 km E of Etowah, Tennessee
  11. 2.2 7 km ENE of Niota, Tennessee
  12. 2.4 9 km WNW of Hopewell, Tennessee
  13. 1.9 6 km NW of Eton, Georgia
  14. 1.9 17 km SSE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  15. 2.1 13 km E of Benton, 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.

On USGS

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