Area 51 experienced 17 earthquakes in one day

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There’s something strange going on under Area 51. According to US Geological Survey data earlier this week, more than 100 people reported at least 17 earthquakes in just 24 hours near the notorious and top-secret military base. The relatively shallow events about 2.5 miles underground ranged in magnitude from 2.5 to 4.4, with the strongest events recorded in an “unusual place for an earthquake,” according to geophysicist Stefan Burns.

Conspiracy theories are already spreading across the Internet about aliens, UFOs, and other frightening phenomena, but there is at least one hypothesis that initially seems more plausible and disturbing. Based on the region’s past, coupled with recent setbacks in domestic politics, there is technically a non-zero chance that the United States will begin underground nuclear testing again. However, don’t go racing to the underground bunkers just yet.

What is Area 51?

Sensational rumors of extraterrestrial existence aside, Area 51 has served for decades as a national nexus for advanced weapons development and aircraft engineering. The facility is located within the Nevada Test and Training Range about 83 miles northwest of Las Vegas and was opened in 1955 under the CIA’s direction for Project AQUATONE. This endeavor culminated in the construction of the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, and marked a key moment in the Cold War. Secret operations at the site later included the development of the A-12 spy plane, the F-117 Nighthawk, and the D-21 drone. Area 51 has earned its reputation as a UFO hotspot, largely due to decades of test flights of stealth aircraft, whose speed and unpredictable maneuvering abilities often confound unsuspecting onlookers.

If all that wasn’t enough, Area 51 shares a border with Yucca Flat, which the US military has used for years to test dozens of nuclear weapons. While many of them were above ground, researchers soon realized that the relatively safest method was underground explosions, because they greatly reduce exposure to radioactive dust in the atmosphere. In 1951, engineers detonated the first underground nuclear weapon — the 1.2-kiloton “Buster-Jungle Uncle” — 17 feet below ground level. After more than a decade of escalating geopolitical tensions, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963 to ban any additional above-ground nuclear development. The deepest nuclear test ever recorded in the United States was conducted 6,000 feet below Kamchika, Alaska, in 1971.

The last nuclear explosion in the United States occurred in 1992, and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996 ended almost all advances in weapons among the world’s great powers. Since its signing, only 16 confirmed bombings have been recorded from non-signatory countries, namely India, Pakistan and North Korea. Despite this, the armed states have significantly reduced their nuclear stockpiles.

Don’t panic

President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming domestic underground testing, and the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between the United States and Russia expired in February 2026. However, that is easier said than done. From a simple logistical standpoint, reversing nearly 40 years of global precedent would require at least 36 months of preparatory time at the Nevada Test Site, a topic Trump recently commented on in October 2025. Then there is the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization itself. Created in conjunction with the treaty, the multinational project constantly monitors any new nuclear explosions – and its equipment is highly sensitive.

“The CTBTO’s International Monitoring System (IMS) is capable of detecting nuclear test explosions equal to or exceeding approximately 500 tons. [492 tons] “Less than 500 tons represents approximately three percent of the output of the explosion that destroyed Hiroshima,” Robert Floyd, executive director of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, explained shortly after the Russian-American treaty expired last February.

While underground nuclear explosions are more difficult to report, they are certainly not impossible. Previous research has shown that advanced signal detection technology can also identify a 1.7-ton buried explosion with up to 97 percent accuracy.

“They are certainly not nuclear weapons,” Martin Pfeiffer, a semiotic anthropologist and nuclear weapons researcher, wrote for Popular Science. “Nuclear weapons have a relatively distinct seismic signal.” He added that the nuclear option is also unlikely because the United States usually detonates nuclear bombs underground at very shallow depths.

So while the odds that the United States will suddenly detonate more than a dozen underground nuclear devices near Area 51 this week are extremely low, they are certainly exciting. However, the jury’s out on the lack of extraterrestrial theory…

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Andrew Ball is a staff writer for Popular Science.

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