QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

5 km NW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee

· 13 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monroe County 9 kmMcMinn County 27 kmLoudon County 37 kmPolk County 38 kmCherokee County 38 kmGraham County 45 kmMeigs County 46 kmBlount County 49 kmRoane 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 1.7 (md)
Depth
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monroe County, 9 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2560 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 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 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 35.3997, -84.3262. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monroe County, TN 9 km (5 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
McMinn County, TN 27 km (17 mi) E of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Loudon County, TN 37 km (23 mi) S of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Polk County, TN 38 km (23 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Polk County
Cherokee County, NC 38 km (23 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Cherokee County
Graham County, NC 45 km (28 mi) W of here earthquakes near Graham 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. 1.8 6 km S of Friendsville, Tennessee
  2. 1.6 11 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  3. 2.1 7 km NNE of Benton, Tennessee
  4. 1.9 1 km NW of Niota, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 3 km SE of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  6. 1.9 11 km SSW of Decatur, Tennessee
  7. 1.6 7 km WSW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  8. 2.1 11 km SSW of Benton, Tennessee
  9. 2.3 5 km NE of Greenback, Tennessee
  10. 2.2 11 km SSW of Benton, Tennessee
  11. 1.6 3 km ENE of Philadelphia, Tennessee
  12. 2.4 16 km E of Spring City, Tennessee
  13. 2.5 11 km SSW of Maryville, Tennessee
  14. 2.0 3 km SSW of Loudon, Tennessee
  15. 2.1 6 km S of Sweetwater, 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 12,000 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.