Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 2.8ml
21 km W of Preston, Nevada
Yes. A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 21 km W of Preston, Nevada, at 2:56 pm PST on 9 November 2026 (22:56 UTC), 3.9 km deep.
- When
- Magnitude
- M 2.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 3.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- White Pine County, 65 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Preston fault, 17 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 28 hours ago
Earthquake alerts for Ely, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Ely, NV. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 26 km (16 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 420 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 36,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 26,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.3× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.8 about 420 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 4.8 on 2026-09-27 — about 1,100 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 38.9323, -115.3098. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Pine County, NV | 65 km (40 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near White Pine County |
| Eureka County, NV | 143 km (89 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Eureka County |
| Nye County, NV | 147 km (91 mi) | SW | 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.
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 | 29 km NW of Preston, Nevada | 21 km W of Preston, Nevada | |
| longitude | -115.31 | -115.31 | |
| latitude | 39.1 | 38.93 | |
| depth | 3.34 | 3.86 | |
| magnitude | 2.99 | 2.76 |
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.