QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

7 km SE of Knoxville, Tennessee

· 12 km deep · released about 51 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Knox County 11 kmBlount County 26 kmSevier County 34 kmAnderson County 37 kmJefferson County 41 kmUnion County 41 kmLoudon County 45 kmGrainger County 52 kmSwain 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 2.1 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
2 reports · strongest reported intensity II
Nearest
Knox County, 11 km NW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 144 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 51 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 5.8 300,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 210,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 51 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 35.9125, -83.8642. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Knox County, TN 11 km (7 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Knox County
Blount County, TN 26 km (16 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Blount County
Sevier County, TN 34 km (21 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Sevier County
Anderson County, TN 37 km (23 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Anderson County
Jefferson County, TN 41 km (25 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Jefferson County
Union County, TN 41 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Union County

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

Aftershocks so far

20 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. 2.0 3 km SW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  5. 2.2 9 km S of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
  6. 1.5 12 km SE of Greenback, Tennessee
  7. 2.0 3 km ESE of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  8. 2.0 4 km WNW of Mascot, Tennessee
  9. 1.9 3 km NW of Mascot, Tennessee
  10. 1.8 0 km SE of Farragut, Tennessee
  11. 2.3 1 km S of Friendsville, Tennessee
  12. 1.8 5 km SSE of Friendsville, Tennessee
  13. 2.4 5 km SSE of Friendsville, Tennessee
  14. 1.7 4 km NE of Louisville, Tennessee
  15. 2.0 3 km WSW of Alcoa, 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 4.1 on 2025-05-10 — it released about 840 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.