QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

5 km ENE of Niota, Tennessee

· 16 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N McMinn County 17 kmMonroe County 23 kmLoudon County 28 kmMeigs County 30 kmRoane County 36 kmRhea County 43 kmPolk County 47 kmBradley County 54 kmBlount County 54 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
16 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
McMinn County, 17 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 373 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 2 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

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 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 92× 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 35.5253, -84.4830. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
McMinn County, TN 17 km (10 mi) NE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Monroe County, TN 23 km (14 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Loudon County, TN 28 km (17 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Meigs County, TN 30 km (19 mi) E of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Roane County, TN 36 km (22 mi) S of here earthquakes near Roane County
Rhea County, TN 43 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Rhea County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 5 km NNE of Greenback, Tennessee
  2. 2.0 1 km S of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  3. 2.1 1 km S of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  4. 1.7 1 km ENE of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  5. 1.8 11 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  6. 2.4 10 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  7. 2.0 3 km SW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  8. 1.6 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  9. 1.8 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  10. 2.2 9 km S of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
  11. 2.0 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  12. 2.3 17 km SSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  13. 2.4 18 km N of Ducktown, Tennessee
  14. 1.7 6 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  15. 1.9 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 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.