An early-morning earthquake hit near the Tennessee-Missouri border, rattling dozens of people on Tuesday, May 31. The 3.1-magnitude tremor was the largest of several quakes that hit the region this week, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was reported at about 3:40 a.m. Central time and had a depth of about 7 miles. The quake shook the ground roughly 7 miles northwest of Newbern, Tennessee, a town that lies about 80 miles northwest of Memphis. Dozens of people reported feeling the quake in Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas. They experienced “weak” to “light” shaking, with no damage, the USGS said.
On Facebook, one woman in the region described feeling her house shake while another user didn’t wake up at all, according to comments on the KFVS page. Starting overnight Monday, at least three other quakes were reported near Ridgely, Tennessee. The cluster included smaller 1.5-, 1.7- and 2.6-magnitude tremors, according to geologists.
The region is home to the New Madrid Seismic Zone, where hundreds of earthquakes are detected each year. Though people don’t feel most of the quakes, some believed to have been at least 7.0 magnitude were reported in 1811 and 1812, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. READ MORE
