QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

3 km SW of Varnell, Georgia

· 13 km deep · released about 40 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Whitfield County 9 kmCatoosa County 13 kmMurray County 26 kmWalker County 32 kmBradley County 33 kmHamilton County 36 kmGordon County 43 kmDade County 46 kmPolk County 49 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
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Whitfield County, 9 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 194 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 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 34.8818, -85.0032. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Whitfield County, GA 9 km (6 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Whitfield County
Catoosa County, GA 13 km (8 mi) E of here earthquakes near Catoosa County
Murray County, GA 26 km (16 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Murray County
Walker County, GA 32 km (20 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Walker County
Bradley County, TN 33 km (20 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Hamilton County, TN 36 km (22 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Hamilton County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 1 km NW of Trion, Georgia
  2. 2.4 10 km WNW of Resaca, Georgia
  3. 2.1 7 km ESE of Benton, Tennessee
  4. 2.1 11 km ESE of Trenton, Georgia

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.