QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

2 km W of Hopewell, Tennessee

· 18 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Bradley County 10 kmHamilton County 27 kmMeigs County 32 kmMcMinn County 34 kmPolk County 36 kmRhea County 41 kmCatoosa County 42 kmSequatchie County 48 kmWhitfield County 48 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Bradley County, 10 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2549 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 35.2317, -84.9135. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Bradley County, TN 10 km (6 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Hamilton County, TN 27 km (17 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Hamilton County
Meigs County, TN 32 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Meigs County
McMinn County, TN 34 km (21 mi) SW of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Polk County, TN 36 km (23 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Polk County
Rhea County, TN 41 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Rhea County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 11 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  2. 2.3 4 km ESE of East Cleveland, Tennessee
  3. 1.6 9 km NNW of Decatur, Tennessee
  4. 2.4 6 km WNW of Niota, Tennessee
  5. 1.9 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  6. 1.8 4 km W of Athens, Tennessee
  7. 2.9 16 km NNE of Eton, Georgia
  8. 2.0 5 km E of Riceville, Tennessee
  9. 2.1 10 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  10. 1.6 13 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  11. 2.3 4 km ESE of Powells Crossroads, Tennessee
  12. 1.6 16 km NE of Eton, Georgia
  13. 2.8 6 km SE of Englewood, Tennessee
  14. 2.1 6 km NNW of Calhoun, Tennessee
  15. 1.8 5 km ENE of Lakesite, 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 2,800 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.