QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

15 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee

· 20 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Roane County 21 kmMeigs County 26 kmLoudon County 27 kmMcMinn County 28 kmRhea County 32 kmMonroe County 41 kmCumberland County 47 kmMorgan County 52 kmBledsoe County 55 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
20 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Roane County, 21 km NNE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1476 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 35.6740, -84.6067. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Roane County, TN 21 km (13 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Roane County
Meigs County, TN 26 km (16 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Loudon County, TN 27 km (17 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
McMinn County, TN 28 km (17 mi) N of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Rhea County, TN 32 km (20 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Rhea County
Monroe County, TN 41 km (25 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Monroe County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 2 km SSE of Philadelphia, Tennessee
  2. 1.9 3 km N of Madisonville, Tennessee
  3. 1.8 11 km SW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  4. 1.6 7 km W of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 5 km NW of Madisonville, Tennessee
  6. 2.0 14 km SE of Vonore, Tennessee
  7. 1.8 4 km WSW of Decatur, Tennessee
  8. 1.6 5 km NNE of Greenback, Tennessee
  9. 2.0 3 km ESE of Etowah, Tennessee
  10. 1.8 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  11. 1.9 11 km SW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  12. 1.6 9 km NNW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  13. 1.6 2 km E of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  14. 2.0 0 km S of Niota, Tennessee
  15. 1.6 7 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 6,000 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.