QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

7 km N of Benton, Tennessee

· 16 km deep · released about 140 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Polk County 18 kmMcMinn County 20 kmBradley County 22 kmMeigs County 33 kmMonroe County 42 kmRhea County 48 kmMurray County 51 kmHamilton County 51 kmFannin 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
3 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Polk County, 18 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2185 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 3 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 140 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 110,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 78,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 6.9× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 140 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 35.2452, -84.6462. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Polk County, TN 18 km (11 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Polk County
McMinn County, TN 20 km (12 mi) S of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Bradley County, TN 22 km (14 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Meigs County, TN 33 km (21 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Monroe County, TN 42 km (26 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Rhea County, TN 48 km (30 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Rhea County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 4 km SSE of Lakesite, Tennessee
  2. 1.5 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  3. 1.9 7 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  4. 2.0 11 km NNE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  5. 1.5 7 km ESE of Calhoun, Tennessee
  6. 1.9 3 km ESE of Etowah, Tennessee
  7. 1.8 11 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  8. 2.3 4 km ESE of East Cleveland, Tennessee
  9. 1.6 9 km NNW of Decatur, Tennessee
  10. 2.4 6 km WNW of Niota, Tennessee
  11. 1.9 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  12. 1.5 12 km ESE of Madisonville, Tennessee
  13. 1.8 4 km W of Athens, Tennessee
  14. 2.9 16 km NNE of Eton, Georgia
  15. 2.0 5 km E of Riceville, 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 870 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.