More than a dozen quakes in 30 days: What’s going on in the Southern Appalachians?
More than a dozen earthquakes have rocked the southern Appalachian Mountains in the last month, including a 2.4-magnitude temblor reported near the Georgia-Tennessee line over the weekend.
It’s the latest in a series of quakes that have rattled the region in recent weeks, striking the Tunnel Hill community near Dalton, Georgia, around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A weaker 1.9-magnitude quake was reported 70 miles away in Niota, Tennessee, the same day.
No damage or injuries were reported, officials said.
The Georgia temblor struck about five and half miles below ground and was felt as far south as Atlanta — some 80 miles away.
It measured low on the Richter scale, which was replaced by the Moment magnitude scale and measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake.
The ground has been moving for weeks under the feet of residents in the region, although they may not have noticed considering the recent temblors have measured at less than 2.5 magnitude.
The weakest struck near Tellico Village just outside Knoxville, Tennessee, on Dec. 30 and measured at 1.6-magnitude, according to the USGS. Sunday’s 2.4-magnitude quake in northwest Georgia was the “strongest” the region has felt in recent weeks, though similarly strong earthquakes have been reported near Ooltewah, Benton, Knoxville and Dayton in just the last 30 days.
Since Dec. 13, there have been at least 14 quakes in the southern Appalachian Mountains, according to USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso.
Earthquakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech.
Quakes ‘commonplace’ in Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone
So what’s with all the temblors lately? Caruso said earthquakes are common along the region known as the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone, which extends across Tennessee and into northwest Georgia.
“We do have quakes there from time to time ... so this isn’t completely unusual,” he told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “It’s something we’ve known about for a long time. It’s commonplace for smaller earthquakes.”
The potential for stronger, more frequent earthquakes in the future is impossible to tell, however. So it’s best for residents to stay prepared, according to Caruso.
“We can’t predict earthquakes,” he said. “We simply don’t know.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 2:29 PM with the headline "More than a dozen quakes in 30 days: What’s going on in the Southern Appalachians?."