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Quake Rattles Tennessee Near Chattanooga Not Far from Saturday’s Earthquake

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The epicenter of this earthquake is at the orange dot inside the colored, concentric circles on the map. Image: USGS
The epicenter of this earthquake is at the orange dot inside the colored, concentric circles on the map. Image: USGS

According to USGS, a weak earthquake rattled portions of eastern Tennessee last night just west of Chattanooga and not far from the epicenter of another earthquake that struck northwestern Georgia yesterday morning. The magnitude 2.4 earthquake struck just outside of Tracy City from a depth of 9.7 km at 11:28 pm last night. Yesterday’s earthquake struck about 50 miles southeast near LaFayette, Georgia; it had the same magnitude as this Tennessee quake.

Earthquake hazards are possible in broad areas of the United States. Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. The map illustrates such hazards and is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007). Image: USGS
Earthquake hazards are possible in broad areas of the United States. Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. The map illustrates such hazards and is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007). Image: USGS

According to USGS,  quakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0 , more and more people can feel them. While damage is possible with magnitude 3.0 events or greater, significant damage and casualties usually don’t occur until the magnitude of a seismic event rises to a 5.5 or greater rated event.

Earthquakes like the one that hit overnight in the eastern part of Tennessee are unlikely associated with the New Madrid Seismic Zone, an area of ongoing seismic activity located near the Mississippi River. However, while USGS says western Tennessee has a higher frequency of damaging earthquake shaking, the risk isn’t that low in eastern Tennessee.  In the area of this most recent quake, USGS says its likely this area would see 50-100 damaging earthquakes over 10,000 years. While this number is low, it is much higher than it is elsewhere in the eastern half of the United States, where it’s likely to have 10 or less earthquakes over the same period.