QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5md

Tennessee-North Carolina border region

26 km (16 mi) ESE of Knoxville, TN

· 24 km deep · released about 190 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sevier County 19 kmKnox County 25 kmJefferson County 27 kmBlount County 32 kmSwain County 41 kmGrainger County 45 kmUnion County 45 kmCocke County 51 kmHamblen 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 2.5 (md)
Depth
24 km below the surface
Felt
9 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Sevier County, 19 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3591 days ago

A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded at Tennessee-North Carolina border region at 00:07 UTC on 2016-09-07. 9 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Seymour, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Mascot, Wildwood, Knoxville.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 190 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 80,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 57,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 190 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 35.8962, -83.6810. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Sevier County, TN 19 km (12 mi) SE earthquakes near Sevier County
Knox County, TN 25 km (16 mi) WNW earthquakes near Knox County
Jefferson County, TN 27 km (17 mi) NE earthquakes near Jefferson County
Blount County, TN 32 km (20 mi) SW earthquakes near Blount County
Swain County, NC 41 km (26 mi) SSE earthquakes near Swain County
Grainger County, TN 45 km (28 mi) NNE earthquakes near Grainger County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.0 5 km ESE of Mascot, Tennessee
  2. 2.6 4 km W of Blaine, Tennessee
  3. 1.8 3 km ESE of Garland, Tennessee
  4. 2.3 4 km WSW of Seymour, Tennessee
  5. 2.2 3 km S of Blaine, Tennessee
  6. 2.1 7 km WSW of Maryville, Tennessee
  7. 1.7 8 km SSE of Friendsville, Tennessee
  8. 1.8 8 km NNE of Louisville, Tennessee
  9. 2.3 8 km NNE of Luttrell, Tennessee
  10. 2.1 1 km WSW of Maryville, Tennessee
  11. 2.0 1 km SW of Maryville, Tennessee
  12. 1.9 1 km WSW of Maryville, Tennessee
  13. 1.5 1 km NW of Maryville, Tennessee
  14. 2.4 2 km SW of Maryville, Tennessee
  15. 2.3 6 km W of Seymour, 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.