QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

5 km NNE of Blowing Rock, North Carolina

· 2.0 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Watauga County 9 kmCaldwell County 26 kmAvery County 27 kmAshe County 33 kmJohnson County 37 kmWilkes County 43 kmCarter County 45 kmBurke County 48 kmMitchell 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
2.0 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Watauga County, 9 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1446 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 40 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 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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 36.1733, -81.6463. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Watauga County, NC 9 km (6 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Watauga County
Caldwell County, NC 26 km (16 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Caldwell County
Avery County, NC 27 km (17 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Avery County
Ashe County, NC 33 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Ashe County
Johnson County, TN 37 km (23 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Johnson County
Wilkes County, NC 43 km (27 mi) W of here earthquakes near Wilkes County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 6 km WSW of Newland, North Carolina
  2. 2.2 16 km E of Jefferson, North Carolina
  3. 2.2 13 km NNW of Cedar Rock, North Carolina
  4. 2.2 8 km WNW of Roan Mountain, Tennessee
  5. 1.8 9 km SSE of West Jefferson, North Carolina
  6. 2.0 7 km N of Spruce Pine, North Carolina

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.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.