QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8md

5 km NNE of Niota, Tennessee

· 5.2 km deep · released about 15 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N McMinn County 17 kmMeigs County 27 kmLoudon County 27 kmMonroe County 28 kmRoane County 32 kmRhea County 38 kmPolk County 50 kmBradley County 54 kmBlount County 57 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 1.8 (md)
Depth
5.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
McMinn County, 17 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 788 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 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 35.5622, -84.5295. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
McMinn County, TN 17 km (11 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Meigs County, TN 27 km (16 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Loudon County, TN 27 km (17 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Loudon County
Monroe County, TN 28 km (18 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Roane County, TN 32 km (20 mi) S of here earthquakes near Roane County
Rhea County, TN 38 km (24 mi) E of here earthquakes near Rhea County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 10 km ENE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  2. 1.7 5 km ENE of Niota, Tennessee
  3. 2.0 3 km WNW of Huntsville, Tennessee
  4. 2.1 0 km N of Greenback, Tennessee
  5. 1.8 6 km SW of Decatur, Tennessee
  6. 2.1 3 km NE of Niota, Tennessee
  7. 1.9 5 km SSW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  8. 2.3 10 km ENE of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  9. 2.4 6 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 5 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  11. 1.9 1 km ENE of Friendsville, Tennessee
  12. 2.2 6 km SSE of Vonore, Tennessee
  13. 2.2 12 km S of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  14. 2.3 7 km SSE of Charleston, Tennessee
  15. 2.4 4 km E of Athens, 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 8,200 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.