15 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada

2026-09-16 14:26 UTC · 9.7 km deep · released about 9 lb of TNT

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: 2026-09-16 14:26 UTC
Magnitude: M 1.6 (ml)
Depth: 9.7 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Washoe County, 19 km NW
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 10 days ago · we first saw it 10 days ago

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.6 about 9 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.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 40.5967, -119.5228. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Washoe County, NV	19 km (12 mi)	SE of here	earthquakes near Washoe County
Lassen County, CA	94 km (58 mi)	E of here	earthquakes near Lassen County
Pershing County, NV	96 km (59 mi)	W of here	earthquakes near Pershing County
Plumas County, CA	129 km (80 mi)	ENE of here	earthquakes near Plumas County
Sierra County, CA	142 km (88 mi)	NE of here	earthquakes near Sierra County
Humboldt County, NV	148 km (92 mi)	SW of here	earthquakes near Humboldt County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.8 22 km SSW of Empire, Nevada 23:59 UTC
2.0 2 km SSE of Burning Man Earth, Nevada 19:12 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 08:48 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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