Earthquake shakes community near North Carolina-Tennessee border
An earthquake shook residents near the North Carolina-Tennessee border Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The 2.5-magnitude quake hit just before 9:30 a.m. near Englewood, Tennessee, according to the USGS. Englewood, on the edge of Nantahala National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has a population of about 1,500.
People reported feeling minor shaking in the area near the North Carolina border as far as 6 miles from the epicenter.
The quake was in an area geologists call the Eastern Tennessee seismic zone, which “is one of the most active earthquake areas in the Southeast,” according to the USGS.
The zone “extends across Tennessee and northwestern Georgia into northeastern Alabama,” the USGS said.
There are no documented large quakes in the area, geologists said, but some have caused damage in the area. “The largest known (magnitude 4.6) occurred on April 29, 2003, near Fort Payne, Alabama,” according to the USGS.
