QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.3md

7 km SSE of Charleston, Tennessee

· 12 km deep · released about 79 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Bradley County 15 kmPolk County 21 kmMcMinn County 24 kmMeigs County 33 kmHamilton County 44 kmRhea County 46 kmMurray County 48 kmMonroe County 50 kmWhitfield 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 2.3 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
6 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Bradley County, 15 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 344 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage. 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 79 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 190,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 12× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.3 about 79 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 35.2293, -84.7255. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Bradley County, TN 15 km (9 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Bradley County
Polk County, TN 21 km (13 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Polk County
McMinn County, TN 24 km (15 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Meigs County, TN 33 km (20 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Hamilton County, TN 44 km (27 mi) E of here earthquakes near Hamilton County
Rhea County, TN 46 km (29 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Rhea County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.7 1 km ENE of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  2. 1.8 11 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  3. 2.4 10 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  4. 1.6 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  5. 1.8 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  6. 2.0 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  7. 2.3 17 km SSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  8. 2.4 18 km N of Ducktown, Tennessee
  9. 1.7 6 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  10. 1.9 4 km W of Etowah, Tennessee
  11. 2.1 7 km ESE of Benton, Tennessee
  12. 2.0 8 km E of Benton, Tennessee
  13. 2.0 6 km WSW of Riceville, Tennessee
  14. 2.4 5 km E of Etowah, Tennessee
  15. 1.8 11 km S of Tellico Plains, 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 1,500 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.