QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.7md

7 km N of Columbus, North Carolina

· 5.6 km deep · released about 380 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Polk County 6 kmHenderson County 25 kmRutherford County 27 kmMcDowell County 43 kmBuncombe County 44 kmSpartanburg County 47 kmGreenville County 50 kmTransylvania County 57 kmCleveland County 59 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 2.7 (md)
Depth
5.6 km below the surface
Felt
766 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Polk County, 6 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 273 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 766 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 380 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 40,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 29,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.5× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 380 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 35.3182, -82.2042. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Polk County, NC 6 km (3 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Polk County
Henderson County, NC 25 km (16 mi) E of here earthquakes near Henderson County
Rutherford County, NC 27 km (17 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Rutherford County
McDowell County, NC 43 km (27 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near McDowell County
Buncombe County, NC 44 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Buncombe County
Spartanburg County, SC 47 km (29 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Spartanburg 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. 1.9 8 km E of Weaverville, North Carolina
  3. 2.1 3 km NW of Marion, North Carolina
  4. 2.2 3 km NNW of Marion, 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.