QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.2md

10 km WNW of Lake Santeetlah, North Carolina

· 4.9 km deep · released about 58 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Graham County 13 kmMonroe County 26 kmCherokee County 29 kmBlount County 34 kmClay County 42 kmLoudon County 50 kmSwain County 50 kmMacon County 56 kmTowns County 58 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 2.2 (md)
Depth
4.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Graham County, 13 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 143 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 58 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 260,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 58 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 35.3865, -83.9710. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Graham County, NC 13 km (8 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Graham County
Monroe County, TN 26 km (16 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Cherokee County, NC 29 km (18 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Cherokee County
Blount County, TN 34 km (21 mi) S of here earthquakes near Blount County
Clay County, NC 42 km (26 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Clay County
Loudon County, TN 50 km (31 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Loudon 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. 1.7 1 km ENE of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  5. 2.0 3 km SW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  6. 1.6 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  7. 1.8 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  8. 2.0 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  9. 2.3 17 km SSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  10. 2.4 18 km N of Ducktown, Tennessee
  11. 2.0 2 km SW of Vonore, Tennessee
  12. 2.4 2 km SW of Vonore, Tennessee
  13. 1.5 12 km SE of Greenback, Tennessee
  14. 2.0 3 km ESE of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  15. 2.4 5 km E 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 4.1 on 2025-05-10 — it released about 730 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.