QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.4md

Kentucky-Tennessee border region

Yes. A magnitude 2.4 earthquake was recorded in the Kentucky-Tennessee border region, 48 km (30 mi) W of Kingsport, TN, at 4:57 pm EDT on 29 June 2023 (20:57 UTC), 21 km deep.

48 km (30 mi) W of Kingsport, TN · 101 km (63 mi) NE of Knoxville, TN

· 21 km deep · released about 120 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Hancock County 13 kmLee County 17 kmHawkins County 18 kmHarlan County 36 kmHamblen County 41 kmScott County 45 kmGreene County 47 kmGrainger County 49 kmClaiborne 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 2.4 (md)
Depth
21 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Hancock County, 13 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1220 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 36 km (22 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Sneedville, Rogersville, Surgoinsville, Pennington Gap, Dryden, Bean Station.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 120 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 89,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 7.9× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.4 about 120 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 36.5545, -83.0827. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Hancock County, TN 13 km (8 mi) WSW earthquakes near Hancock County
Lee County, VA 17 km (11 mi) NNW earthquakes near Lee County
Hawkins County, TN 18 km (11 mi) SE earthquakes near Hawkins County
Harlan County, KY 36 km (22 mi) NNW earthquakes near Harlan County
Hamblen County, TN 41 km (25 mi) SSW earthquakes near Hamblen County
Scott County, VA 45 km (28 mi) ENE earthquakes near Scott County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 5 km NE of Clinchport, Virginia
  2. 2.3 2 km ENE of Greeneville, Tennessee
  3. 2.4 5 km NNE of Bean Station, Tennessee
  4. 2.3 8 km NNW of Greeneville, Tennessee
  5. 2.4 5 km ENE of Harrogate, Tennessee
  6. 2.3 2 km ENE of Rutledge, Tennessee
  7. 2.1 9 km ENE of Rutledge, Tennessee
  8. 2.1 7 km ENE of Rutledge, Tennessee
  9. 2.4 2 km ESE of Rutledge, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 1 km SW of Fall Branch, Tennessee
  11. 1.8 4 km S of New Tazewell, Tennessee
  12. 1.9 1 km NE of Rutledge, Tennessee
  13. 2.2 9 km SSW of Cumberland, Kentucky

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.