Two earthquakes rattle Tennessee’s border in one day, USGS reports
Two earthquakes shook the Tennessee border north of Memphis on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The quakes were less than 12 hours apart.
The first quake measuring 2.0 magnitude at a depth of roughly five miles hit near Tiptonville, Tennessee, on the Missouri border shortly before 8 a.m., according to the USGS. At least two people reported feeling it in Belleville, Illinois — about 145 miles away.
A second 2.3 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:23 p.m. just north of Blytheville, Arkansas, USGS reported. No one reported feeling it.
Both communities sitting at or near the intersection of three states have populations between 4,500 and 13,600, according to U.S. Census records. They lie directly over the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
Tennessee is no stranger to earthquakes.
A cluster of four small quakes rattled its border with North Carolina on Feb. 11 within five hours, McClatchy News reported. Another 2.7 magnitude earthquake struck the Kentucky border a day later.
The quakes occurred in the East Tennessee Seismic Zone, one of two seismic zones lining Tennessee’s eastern and western-most borders, according to the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium.
Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, USGS reported. It replaces the old Richter scale.
Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech.
