QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.9md

7 km ENE of Etowah, Tennessee

· 12 km deep · released about 20 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N McMinn County 18 kmMonroe County 22 kmPolk County 27 kmMeigs County 38 kmCherokee County 42 kmBradley County 43 kmLoudon County 45 kmRhea County 53 kmFannin 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 1.9 (md)
Depth
12 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
McMinn County, 18 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 260 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 20 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 760,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 540,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 48× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 20 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 35.3447, -84.4505. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
McMinn County, TN 18 km (11 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near McMinn County
Monroe County, TN 22 km (13 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Monroe County
Polk County, TN 27 km (17 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Polk County
Meigs County, TN 38 km (24 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Meigs County
Cherokee County, NC 42 km (26 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Cherokee County
Bradley County, TN 43 km (27 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Bradley 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. 2.1 5 km NNE of Greenback, Tennessee
  2. 2.0 1 km S of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  3. 2.1 1 km S of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  4. 1.7 1 km ENE of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  5. 1.8 11 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  6. 2.4 10 km NNE of Decatur, Tennessee
  7. 2.0 3 km SW of Tellico Village, Tennessee
  8. 1.6 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  9. 1.8 8 km E of Englewood, Tennessee
  10. 2.0 8 km SSE of Etowah, Tennessee
  11. 2.3 17 km SSW of Tellico Plains, Tennessee
  12. 2.4 18 km N of Ducktown, Tennessee
  13. 1.7 6 km WNW of Sweetwater, Tennessee
  14. 1.9 4 km W of Etowah, Tennessee
  15. 2.0 2 km SW of Vonore, 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 6,000 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.