QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

9 km NNE of Salem, South Carolina

· 6.1 km deep · released about 8.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Pickens County 23 kmOconee County 27 kmTransylvania County 29 kmJackson County 38 kmRabun County 42 kmMacon County 47 kmGreenville County 54 kmStephens County 56 kmAnderson 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 1.6 (md)
Depth
6.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Pickens County, 23 km ESE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 88 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 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 34.9723, -82.9532. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Pickens County, SC 23 km (14 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Pickens County
Oconee County, SC 27 km (17 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Oconee County
Transylvania County, NC 29 km (18 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Transylvania County
Jackson County, NC 38 km (24 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Jackson County
Rabun County, GA 42 km (26 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Rabun County
Macon County, NC 47 km (29 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Macon 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. 2.3 7 km SE of Brevard, North Carolina
  2. 2.1 8 km W of Rosman, North Carolina
  3. 1.8 8 km W of Rosman, North Carolina
  4. 2.1 10 km SSW of Dillsboro, North Carolina

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.