Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.3ml
19 km W of Preston, Nevada
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.3 (ml)
- Depth
- 3.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Measured shaking
- intensity III (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- White Pine County, 66 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Preston fault, 14 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 6 hours ago
A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 19 km W of Preston, Nevada at 20:16 UTC on 2026-10-06. 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× more
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 4.8 on 2026-09-27 — about 180 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 38.9003, -115.2807. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Pine County, NV | 66 km (41 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near White Pine County |
| Nye County, NV | 146 km (91 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Nye County |
| Eureka County, NV | 147 km (91 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Eureka 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| review status | automatic | reviewed | |
| location | 22 km W of Preston, Nevada | 19 km W of Preston, Nevada | |
| longitude | -115.32 | -115.28 | |
| latitude | 38.93 | 38.9 | |
| depth | 5.57 | 3.62 | |
| magnitude | 3.69 | 3.3 | |
| measured intensity | not reported | 3.24 |
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.