Small quake shakes Tennessee

It has been in the works for quite a while: "On the morning of June 19, Tennessee will experience a 7.7 magnitude earthquake inside the New Madrid Seismic Zone near Memphis." What they weren't counting on was a Real quake to strike Tennessee that day.

Tuesday June 19th is the start of one of the states largest emergency response drills. While the main focus of the simulation is the New Madrid Seismic Zone near Memphis, a real earthquake was being felt 170 miles east near the small town of Spencer (about 50 miles North of Chattanooga).

Although the quake was not widely felt, it is a constant reminder that earthquakes can occur at anytime and anyplace and they don't always strike along active fault lines. Tuesdays quake measured 3.3 and occurred at 1:16 PM local time.

If you think that earthquakes never happen in this area, you may be interested in this map which shows all earthquakes in the area (since 1970) with a magnitude of 2.5 or greater.

Here is the map showing the specific location of this quake

Related Links:
New Madrid Seismic Zone
Tennessee Earthquake Information
Tennessee to test earthquake plan

SPECIAL REPORT: Hot Springs, North Carolina

At 11:09 PM local time on August 24, 2005 a minor earthquake struck near the North Carolina and Tennessee border. The quake measured 3.8 on the richter scale. No injuries have been reported, but minor damage has been reported in surrounding counties.

The quake was felt as far away as Atlanta, Georgia, about 170 miles away.

Although this may seem like an unusual location for earthquakes, minor quakes in this area are not uncommon. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that since at least 1776, people living inland in North and South Carolina, and in adjacent parts of Georgia and Tennessee, have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. The largest earthquake in the area (magnitude 5.1) occurred in 1916 . Moderately damaging earthquakes strike the inland Carolinas every few decades, and smaller earthquakes are felt about once each year or two.

To be more specific I have looked at an area within a 50 mile radius of this current quake. By looking at the map (1971 - 2005) to the right (click for larger view), you will see that this specific area has had it's share of small quakes.

Since 1971 This 100 mile area has seen 77 earthquakes at or above 2.0. A dozen of these quakes were 3.0 or larger. This most recent quake has been the largest.

CLICK HERE to see the complete list of all quakes shown on our map.