QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

5 km ESE of Pineville, Kentucky

· 28 km deep · released about 46 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Bell County 5 kmKnox County 25 kmClaiborne County 28 kmHarlan County 38 kmLeslie County 43 kmHancock County 44 kmLee County 45 kmWhitley County 46 kmClay County 47 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.1 (md)
Depth
28 km below the surface
Felt
1 report · strongest reported intensity I
Nearest
Bell County, 5 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 260 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 46 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 5.8 330,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 230,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 21× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 46 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 36.7512, -83.6297. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Bell County, KY 5 km (3 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bell County
Knox County, KY 25 km (16 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Knox County
Claiborne County, TN 28 km (17 mi) N of here earthquakes near Claiborne County
Harlan County, KY 38 km (24 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Harlan County
Leslie County, KY 43 km (27 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Leslie County
Hancock County, TN 44 km (27 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Hancock County

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.