QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6md

7 km W of Tellico Plains, Tennessee

· 13 km deep · released about 8.1 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monroe County 15 kmMcMinn County 23 kmPolk County 32 kmCherokee County 38 kmLoudon County 42 kmMeigs County 43 kmBradley County 49 kmGraham County 50 kmBlount County 55 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
13 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monroe County, 15 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 816 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 35.3630, -84.3788. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monroe County, TN 15 km (9 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
McMinn County, TN 23 km (14 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Polk County, TN 32 km (20 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Polk County
Cherokee County, NC 38 km (24 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Cherokee County
Loudon County, TN 42 km (26 mi) S of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Meigs County, TN 43 km (27 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Meigs County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.1 0 km N of Greenback, Tennessee
  2. 1.8 6 km SW of Decatur, Tennessee
  3. 2.1 3 km NE of Niota, Tennessee
  4. 1.9 5 km SSW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  5. 2.3 10 km ENE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  6. 2.4 6 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  7. 1.9 5 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  8. 2.2 6 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  9. 2.2 12 km S of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  10. 2.3 7 km SSE of Charleston, Tennessee
  11. 2.4 4 km E of Athens, Tennessee
  12. 1.9 20 km WNW of Lake Santeetlah, North Carolina
  13. 2.2 20 km WNW of Lake Santeetlah, North Carolina
  14. 2.6 2 km E of Greenback, Tennessee
  15. 1.8 2 km S of Niota, 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 4.4 on 2018-12-12 — it released about 15,000 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.