“Rare 4.1-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes the Southeast — Tremors Felt Over 250 Miles Away!”

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that at 9:04 a.m. ET on May 10, a 4.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Knoxville and East Tennessee.

The epicenter of the earthquake is 30 miles southwest of Knoxville, close to Greenback, Tennessee. The USGS reports that the earthquake was only 15 miles deep, making it a shallow quake.

It was the first since a 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck Decatur in 2018 and the seventh earthquake of magnitude 4.0 or higher since 1900. The 1973 4.7-magnitude earthquake in Alcoa was the biggest to strike East Tennessee since 1900.

Neither the Knoxville Police Department nor the Knoxville Fire Department received any reports of damage, according to spokesman Mark Wilbanks.

The earthquake is not out of the ordinary. Tennessee has seen 21 smaller-magnitude earthquakes in the last 30 days. According to USGS data, only three other earthquakes in Tennessee in the previous year had a magnitude greater than 3.0.

Numerous reports have already been sent to the USGS, with some even originating from Atlanta.

One of the Southeast United States’ most seismically active regions is the East Tennessee Seismic Zone, where Knoxville is located. Part of Tennessee, northwest Georgia, and northeastern Alabama are all included in the East Tennessee Seismic Zone. Although there is seismic activity in the area, large earthquakes are not known to occur there.

The new Foothills Parkway West is now closed, according to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Federal Highway Administration will inspect it.

Spokesman Scott Brooks told Knox News that no damage had been done to TVA facilities.

The tremors “triggered a nonemergency inspection by plant personnel at Fontana Dam and our dam safety team decided to conduct precautionary inspections at Fort Loudon and Tellico dams out of an abundance of caution,” according to him.