ATLANTA — A weak earthquake was reported in northwest Georgia Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The magnitude 2.39 earthquake occurred near Lafayette, about 83 miles northwest of Atlanta, at a depth of 5.5 km. at about 6 a.m.
But it doesn’t seem that it was widely felt. As of Sunday afternoon, not a soul had reported to the USGS that they felt the quake.
The Eastern Tennessee seismic zone, of which northwest Georgia is a part, is one of the most active earthquake areas in the Southeast, although it is not known for large earthquakes.
The zone includes Tennessee and northeast Alabama. The largest recorded earthquake in the seismic zone was a magnitude 4.6 event near Fort Payne, Alabama, in 2003.
Earthquakes in the central and eastern United States are typically felt over a much broader region compared to those in the western U.S. A magnitude 4.0 earthquake in the eastern U.S. can be felt up to 60 miles from its epicenter, while a magnitude 5.5 earthquake can be felt as far as 300 miles away.
The Eastern Tennessee seismic zone is characterized by numerous faults, many of which are deeply buried and undetected. Unlike well-studied plate boundaries such as the San Andreas fault in California, the specific fault responsible for earthquakes in this zone is often unknown.
Most of eastern Tennessee’s bedrock originated several hundred million years ago during the formation of the Appalachian Mountains. Despite the presence of known faults, it is difficult to determine if they are still active and capable of causing earthquakes, the USGS said.
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