Earthquakes in Mongolia through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 27 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Mongolia. 6 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.3 on July 23, 1905 (The 1905 Bulnay (Bolnai), Mongolia Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.9 on October 6 (109 km SW of Turpan, China).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 8.1 on December 4, 1957 (1957 Gobi-Altay, Mongolia Earthquake), for which NOAA records 30 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 7 here, back to 1761. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 6.7 on July 4, 1974 (220 km SW of Altai, Mongolia). NOAA’s record here begins on December 9, 1761 with an earthquake. 4 of the 7 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927.
The events
- July 4, 1974Earthquake · M 6.7220 km SW of Altai, MongoliaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 4, 1957Earthquake · M 8.11957 Gobi-Altay, Mongolia Earthquake · 30 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 23, 1905Earthquake · M 8.3The 1905 Bulnay (Bolnai), Mongolia EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 9, 1905Earthquake · M 8.0The 1905 Tsetserleg, Mongolia EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 1, 1903Earthquake · M 7.1Western MongoliaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- December 9, 1761Earthquake · M 7.7 (est.)NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Mongolia when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Mongolia, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history