A light earthquake in eastern Tennessee rattled a multi-state region, including Cherokee County, on Saturday morning, but no significant damages nor injuries were reported.
The earthquake occurred around 9 a.m. Saturday and was measured at a magnitude of 4.1 just south of Greenback, Tenn., at a depth of 15.5 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in Tennessee in 50 years, according to WRAL News.
Throughout the region, residents reported the loud roar and shaking ground that started just after 9 a.m. and ended as much as a minute later. Many were shocked at what they felt.
“I was very surprised. At first I thought it was thunder, but it was in the ground,” Kathy Bolyard of Culberson said.
“I’ve come up here every summer for the last 18 years and have never felt one.”
The quake was felt across Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. According to responses on the USGS website, the earthquake was felt as far south as just north of Atlanta and as far north as Knoxville, Tenn.
The quake was originally reported as measuring 3.5 by the USGS. The higher calculation came later in the weekend.
Aftershocks are unlikely, but there is a 24% chance of a magnitude 3 aftershock in the next week in the immediate area, according to the USGS.
This was the fourth reported earthquake in eastern Tennessee in the last two weeks ranging from a 1.6 magnitude in Madisonville, Tenn., on April 29 to Saturday’s 4.1.
Geology
The USGS website said the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone is one of the most active in the Southeast but not known to have large earthquakes. The largest in the area was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake on April 29, 2003, near Fort Payne, Ala.
They added that earthquakes too small to be felt in the seismic zone are frequent, with hundreds recorded in the past decades. The USGS added that earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt over a larger area compared to those on the west coast for a similar magnitude earthquake.
Bedrock of eastern Tennessee originated when the Appalachian Mountains were formed more than 100 million years ago, which does not link the area to a well-studied fault system like the San Andreas fault system in California. This leads geological scientists to not be able to name the specific fault that causes earthquakes in the region, as well as earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains.
Residents of Cherokee County immediately took to social media and talked with the Cherokee Scout about what they felt.
“It made me giggle,” Cat Callaway of Murphy said. “I lived in Alaska for 16 years and I felt them almost every single day, so it made me giggle. I knew it was an earthquake right off the bat.”
Marlana Baker was in downtown Murphy at the time she felt the earth move.
“I suspected it was an earthquake because I felt the ground shake under my feet. I’ve lived in Cherokee County my whole life and I’ve never felt anything like that. I was very surprised,” she said.
Fremont Edwards was at the L&N Depot as a vendor during the Murphy Farmers Market when the earthquake rumbled Saturday morning.
“It was cool. I felt it, and I saw my table shake. Once I realized it wasn’t a truck going by, I thought it was awesome,” he said.
Dam safety
TVA spokesman Adam May said Saturday afternoon that ground sensors at Blue Ridge Dam “did not indicate ground motions requiring any inspections.” Blue Ridge Dam lies about 80 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter, May said.
However, three other TVA dams were much closer to the epicenter. May said updated information Saturday from the U.S. Geological Survey resulted in a non-emergency inspection by plant personnel at Fontana Dam in Graham County.
TVA’s Dam Safety Team decided to conduct precautionary inspections at Fort Loudon and Tellico dams “out of an abundance of caution,” May said. “TVA does not currently have any reports of damage or injuries at any of our dam sites.”
Details: Visit earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/se60605931/executive.
Cannon Crompton, Randy Foster, Glenn Harbison and Anngee Quinones-Belian of Community Newspapers Inc. contributed to this report.