QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee

· 15 km deep · released about 24 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Polk County 17 kmMcMinn County 22 kmMonroe County 30 kmBradley County 36 kmCherokee County 41 kmMeigs County 41 kmFannin County 46 kmLoudon County 55 kmMurray County 56 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
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Polk County, 17 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1669 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 24 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 5.8 640,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 450,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 40× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 24 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 35.2577, -84.4858. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Polk County, TN 17 km (11 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Polk County
McMinn County, TN 22 km (14 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Monroe County, TN 30 km (19 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Bradley County, TN 36 km (22 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Cherokee County, NC 41 km (25 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Cherokee County
Meigs County, TN 41 km (26 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Meigs County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 2 km E of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  2. 1.7 14 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  3. 2.0 0 km S of Niota, Tennessee
  4. 1.6 7 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  5. 1.5 2 km NNW of Madisonville, Tennessee
  6. 1.7 5 km E of Niota, Tennessee
  7. 2.4 7 km E of Etowah, Tennessee
  8. 2.2 7 km ENE of Niota, Tennessee
  9. 2.4 9 km WNW of Hopewell, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 17 km SSE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  11. 2.1 13 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  12. 2.1 6 km WSW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  13. 2.0 6 km ENE of Morganton, Georgia
  14. 1.9 11 km E of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  15. 1.7 4 km W of Etowah, 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 5,100 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.