Earthquakes rock East Tennessee more frequently than most of the U.S.
As far as earthquakes go, East Tennessee is on shaky ground.
The region experiences more seismic activity than just about anywhere else in the eastern United States, though Wednesday morning’s 4.4 magnitude quake near Decatur was atypically intense for the area.
More: East Tennessee jolted by strongest earthquake to hit area in 45 years
Also: Tennesseans react to rare 4.4 magnitude earthquake
The last East Tennessee earthquake that was more intense happened on Oct. 30, 1973, when a 4.7-magnitude quake rocked Maryville. On March 28, 1913, an even stronger quake struck Knoxville with an estimated magnitude of up to 5.9.
In 2014, the United States Geological Survey increased the earthquake hazard potential of the area, rating parts of East Tennessee at the second-highest level of risk (on a scale from 1 to 7) – including much of Blount, Knox, Loudon and Monroe counties.
The only other regions east of the Rockies with that much hazard potential are in the South Carolina Seismic Zone (limited to South Carolina's central coastal area) and the New Madrid Seismic Zone (which includes much of West Tennessee as well as smaller areas of Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Illinois).
John Bellini, a geophysicist with USGS, said “there is a history of earthquakes” in the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone, which extends into northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.
He said the Decatur-area quake, which was felt as far away as Atlanta, and the 3.0-magnitude aftershock that followed were among some 140 “measurable” quakes (with a 2.5 magnitude or higher) in East Tennessee since the mid-1970s.
Bellini said that the Wednesday morning earthquake was “unlikely to be the bearer of something larger,” though he added, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more (aftershocks) over the next few days” as a result of settling.
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