QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.5ml

Earthquake near Tonopah, NV

USGS: 36 km ESE of Mina, Nevada

9:47 am PDT, Oct 4, 2026 · · 4.1 km deep · released about 180 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Esmeralda County 49 kmMineral County 66 kmMono County 103 kmNye 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
9:47 am PDT on 4 October 2026 ()
Where
49 km (31 mi) WNW of Tonopah, NV · earthquakes near Tonopah
Magnitude
M 2.5 (ml)
Depth
4.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Esmeralda County, 49 km SSE
Nearest mapped fault
Monte Cristo Valley fault, 17 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

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

A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 49 km (31 mi) WNW of Tonopah, NV, at 9:47 am PDT on 4 October 2026 (16:47 UTC). 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 180 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 83,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 59,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.2× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.5 about 180 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 6.5 on 2020-05-15 — about 930,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.8 The 1932 Cedar Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 6.1 Near Tonopah Junction, Nevada · 31 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 37 km N of Dyer, Nevada · 36 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 5.5 Near Tonopah Junction, Nevada · 31 km SW of this epicentre
  5. 5.5 Near Tonopah Junction, Nevada · 31 km SW 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 38.2097, -117.7635. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Esmeralda County, NV 49 km (31 mi) SSE earthquakes near Esmeralda County
Mineral County, NV 66 km (41 mi) WNW earthquakes near Mineral County
Mono County, CA 103 km (64 mi) WSW earthquakes near Mono County
Nye County, NV 117 km (73 mi) ESE earthquakes near Nye 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.