QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

72 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada

Yes. A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 72 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada, at 2:07 am PST on 28 February 2026 (10:07 UTC), 10 km deep.

· 10 km deep · released about 9.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Nye County 55 kmEsmeralda County 120 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.7 (ml)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Nye County, 55 km S
Nearest mapped fault
Tybo Well fault, 23 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 252 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 6 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,600,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 99× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 9.6 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.2 on 2019-05-23 — about 6,200 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 102 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada · 32 km E of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 49 km NNE of Tonopah, Nevada · 47 km W of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 74 km E of Tonopah, Nevada · 31 km SSE of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 38.4506, -116.5593. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Nye County, NV 55 km (34 mi) S earthquakes near Nye County
Esmeralda County, NV 120 km (75 mi) SW earthquakes near Esmeralda County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.8 83 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  2. 1.8 81 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  3. 1.6 74 km SE of Kingston, Nevada
  4. 1.6 92 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  5. 2.6 74 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  6. 1.8 79 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  7. 1.8 74 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  8. 1.9 56 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  9. 1.6 65 km ENE of Tonopah, Nevada
  10. 1.9 59 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  11. 1.8 69 km ENE of Tonopah, Nevada
  12. 1.8 79 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  13. 1.8 79 km NE of Tonopah, Nevada
  14. 2.9 75 km ENE of Tonopah, Nevada
  15. 2.7 72 km ENE of Tonopah, Nevada

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.