A magnitude 4.4 earthquake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey at around 4:14 a.m. ET, with its epicenter near Decatur, Tenn., which is roughly more than 150 miles from Nashville. It's the strongest earthquake to strike Tennessee in 45 years.
An aftershock was felt about 13 minutes later with a magnitude of 3.3, said the USGS.
Of course, after an event like this people took to the Internet to learn anything and everything they could. Some of the top searches were:
- Earthquake in Georgia today 2018
- Memphis earthquake today
- What causes earthquake
- Northridge earthquake
- Biggest earthquake ever
- Earthquake Memphis, TN
- Memphis Earthquake
So, we thought we would dig around and put together a list of the 10 largest earthquakes reported by the USGS.
RELATED | On shaky ground: The New Madrid Fault
How are Earthquakes Measured?
LIVE SCIENCE: What ever happened to the Richter Scale?
What causes earthquakes?
With the two videos above, you now have a good idea on how earthquakes are measured and what causes them. Now we will take a look at the 10 largest earthquakes in the world. We will start with #10 and work our way to #1.
#10: 8.6 Magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra
This earthquake was recorded on November 4th, 2012. It was at a depth of 20 km
#9: 8.6 Magnitude earthquake in the Eastern Xizang-India border region
This earthquake was recorded on August 15th, 1950. It was at a depth of 15km.
#8: 8.7 Magnitude earthquake near Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
This earthquake was recorded on February 4th, 1965. It was at a depth of 30.3km.
#7: 8.8 Magnitude earthquake near the Coast of Ecuador
This earthquake was recorded on January 31st, 1906. It was at a depth of 20km.
#6: 8.8 Magnitude earthquake Offshore Bio-Bio, Chile
This earthquake was recorded on February 27th, 2010. It was at a depth of 22.9km.
#5: 9.0 Magnitude earthquake off the East Coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
This earthquake was recorded on November 4th, 1952. It was at a depth of 21.6km.
#4: 9.1 Magnitude earthquake off the near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan
This earthquake was recorded on March 11th, 2011. It was at a depth of 29.0km.
#3: 9.1 Magnitude earthquake off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra (Also known as the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami)
This earthquake was recorded on December 26th, 2004. It was at a depth of 30.0km.
#2: 9.2 Magnitude earthquake in southern Alaska (Also known as the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake)
This earthquake was recorded on March 28th, 1964. It was at a depth of 25.0km.
And the #1 largest earthquake in the world is....
#1: 9.5 Magnitude earthquake in Bio-Bio, Chile
This earthquake was recorded on May 22nd, 1960. It was at a depth of 25.0km.
Here's an article from Live Science talking about just how big was the biggest earthquake.
Video after the 1960 earthquake in Chile
Recalling the 1960 Chile Quake
So, there you have it!
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