explosion · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.4ml
Earthquake near Hawthorne, NV
USGS: 18 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada
- When
- 2:03 pm PDT on 29 September 2026 ()
- Where
- 18 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV · earthquakes near Hawthorne
- Magnitude
- M 1.4 (ml)
- Depth
- 0.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mineral County, 32 km ENE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Wassuk Range fault, 10 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 3 days ago
A magnitude 1.4 earthquake was recorded 18 km (11 mi) SW of Hawthorne, NV, at 2:03 pm PDT on 29 September 2026 (21:03 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 3.5 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.4 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 270× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.4 about 3.5 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 5.6 on 2016-12-28 — about 2,100,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 21 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.3 The 1934 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Earthquake · 36 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.8 3 km NE of Mono City, California · 49 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.6 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Foreshock) · 32 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.5 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Aftershock) · 32 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.4 Excelsior Mountains, Nevada (Aftershock) · 32 km ESE 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 38.3945, -118.7481. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mineral County, NV | 32 km (20 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Mineral County |
| Mono County, CA | 54 km (34 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Lyon County, NV | 80 km (50 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Douglas County, NV | 94 km (58 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Alpine County, CA | 95 km (59 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Alpine County |
| Tuolumne County, CA | 114 km (71 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Tuolumne County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| event type | earthquake | explosion | |
| review status | automatic | reviewed | |
| location | 28 km SSW of Hawthorne, Nevada | 18 km SW of Hawthorne, Nevada | |
| longitude | -118.73 | -118.75 | |
| latitude | 38.28 | 38.39 | |
| depth | 4.04 | 0 | |
| magnitude | 1.59 | 1.38 |
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.