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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Have you noticed there has been an uptick in earthquake activity the last few months?
This isn’t uncommon for East Tennessee as we are located right in the middle of the East Tennessee Seismic Zone.
You may not think about this area being one of the more active locations when thinking about areas along the west coast, but along the eastern U.S., it ranks rather high.
“In the eastern U.S., New Madrid is the most active, and there is actually one in eastern Canada that is almost as active as New Madrid. We are number 3 in East Tennessee in terms of the frequency of earthquakes.”, said Dr. Robert D. Hatcher Jr. Distinguished, Scientist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee.
While many of the quakes that occur in East Tennessee generally are lower in magnitude, there were a few 4-4.7 magnitude earthquakes decades ago.
“We never had a magnitude 5 here, so there’s not a limit on the earthquake frequency, but we feel this seismic zone in East Tennessee is capable of producing earthquakes on the order of magnitude 6.5 or larger. The reason we say that is because of the evidence we have and seen in the geologic records”, said Hatcher.
One thing scientists are still researching is the earthquakes along inter-plate boundaries. Earthquakes that occur in East Tennessee are rather mysterious as no fault can be seen at this time. However, Hatcher said there has to be some sort of fault deep below the Earth’s surface.
On several instances, there have been reports of multiple earthquakes within a span of a few minutes.
“Earthquakes are produced by a sudden release of energy along a fault and its elastic behavior. It’s like pulling a rubber band and letting it snap and feeling it in your fingers. The energy is released, and sometimes you get two, three or four at one time, and that’s because of more energy at the source.”, said Hatcher.
So as we move over the course of the year, you may see more pushes of earthquakes in your WVLT First Alert Weather App, but know this is common with most of the earthquakes going unfelt due to the nature of depth below the earth’s surface.
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