QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.6ml

58 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada

· 0.1 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Nye County 39 kmLincoln County 117 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.6 (ml)
Depth
0.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Nye County, 39 km WSW
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 hours ago

A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 58 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada at 13:58 UTC on 2026-10-03. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 280 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 53,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 38,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 102 km NNW of Rachel, Nevada · 44 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.0 74 km E of Tonopah, Nevada · 32 km WNW 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 38.1089, -116.0575. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Nye County, NV 39 km (24 mi) WSW earthquakes near Nye County
Lincoln County, NV 117 km (73 mi) ESE earthquakes near Lincoln County

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have 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.

On USGS

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