QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.5md

6 km ENE of Decatur, Tennessee

· 16 km deep · released about 180 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Meigs County 8 kmMcMinn County 16 kmRhea County 22 kmRoane County 39 kmLoudon County 43 kmBledsoe County 44 kmBradley County 44 kmMonroe County 44 kmPolk County 50 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
16 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Meigs County, 8 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2381 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 180 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 83,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 59,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 180 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 35.5340, -84.7262. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Meigs County, TN 8 km (5 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
McMinn County, TN 16 km (10 mi) NW of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Rhea County, TN 22 km (13 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Rhea County
Roane County, TN 39 km (24 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Roane County
Loudon County, TN 43 km (27 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Bledsoe County, TN 44 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Bledsoe 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. 1.5 12 km ESE of Madisonville, Tennessee
  2. 1.8 4 km W of Athens, Tennessee
  3. 2.0 5 km E of Riceville, Tennessee
  4. 2.1 10 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  5. 1.6 13 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  6. 1.9 7 km S of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  7. 2.8 6 km SE of Englewood, Tennessee
  8. 1.5 5 km ENE of Niota, Tennessee
  9. 2.0 3 km SSW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  10. 4.3 2 km ENE of Crab Orchard, Tennessee
  11. 3.1 4 km SSW of Crab Orchard, Tennessee
  12. 2.1 6 km NNW of Calhoun, Tennessee
  13. 1.8 5 km ENE of Lakesite, Tennessee
  14. 2.1 6 km E of Kingston, Tennessee
  15. 1.7 5 km S of Tellico Plains, 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 660 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.