IGES Institute of Geophysics and Engineering Seismology after A. Nazarov

Armenian stations record the Mw 7.0 earthquake in Tibet

7.0Mw
Distant earthquake recorded in Armenia

Xizang–Qinghai border region, China

201 km north-east of Nagqu · 407 km north-north-east of Lhasa

  • Date22 Oct 2026
  • Origin time14:33:40 UTC
  • Depth10 km
  • Distance to Armenia4,300–4,500 km

Recorded by five CHARNET stations in Armenia

A strong magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Tibetan Plateau on 22 October 2026 at 14:33 UTC, about 200 km north-east of Nagqu. Its waves crossed more than 4,000 km of Asia and reached the CHARNET stations in Armenia in about seven and a half minutes.

Recorded in Armenia
ANTSAntarashat · south-east · 4,300 kmP 7:23S 13:21Surface 16:17
ELPNElpin · south · 4,400 kmP 7:32S 13:35Surface 16:40
DGZVDeghdzavan · north · 4,405 kmP 7:31S 13:35Surface 16:41
BRKNByurakan · west · 4,465 kmP 7:38S 13:43Surface 16:55
SHIKSaghik · northP 7:41S 13:48Surface 17:04

Vertical component, 0.03–2 Hz, 47 minutes of record, shown 80× faster: blue — P-waves, gold — S-waves, red — surface waves. Times after the origin. P-wave arrivals are read from the records; S and surface-wave marks follow the iasp91 travel-time model.

How the waves travelled 4,400 km
  1. 7 min 23 sThe first P-wave reaches Antarashat (ANTS), our station closest to the epicentre
  2. +15 sThe same wave arrives at Byurakan (BRKN) in the west, 165 km farther
  3. 13–14 minSlower S-waves reach Armenia
  4. 16–17 minLong-period surface waves arrive
  5. 26–28 minThe strongest swing: the main train of surface waves rolls through Armenia. The ground keeps gently rocking for about 45 minutes after the earthquake

Event parameters: EMSC, USGS · Records: CHARNET, IGES

A magnitude 5.2 aftershock followed in the same area at 15:12 UTC (USGS). The predicted and recorded P-wave times agree to within about one second, a good check of the network’s timing.