Some of the largest historical earthquakes in the state have occurred in the North-Central Nevada area. Major earthquakes occurred in the 1840s, 1915 and 1954. The 1915 magnitude M7.3 Pleasant Valley earthquake that occurred south of Winnemucca was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Nevada. In 1954, six earthquakes of magnitude M6 or greater occurred over a six month period in the Fallon area, culminated by the magnitude M7.1 Fairview Peak earthquake followed four minutes and 20 seconds later by the M6.9 Dixie Valley earthquake. This is an extraordinary continental earthquake sequence and it caused significant damage in Fallon and the surrounding area.

The North-Central Nevada area is dominated by tectonic extension, or the pulling apart of Nevada that creates the mountains and valleys, and creates large, range-bounding normal faults. When an earthquake occurs on a normal fault, the ground is offset vertically, with one side dropping down and the other side going up. Major normal faults occur throughout this region. In the western part of the North-Central Nevada area, there is some influence from the Pacific-North American plate boundary that creates strike-slip faults, or those that have horizontal motion during earthquakes. The earlier earthquakes in the 1954 earthquake sequence were mostly strike-slip in nature. The addition of these strike-slip faults increases the chances of having an earthquake in the western part of this region. This doesn’t mean the next earthquake will occur in the western part, however, and the entire area needs to be earthquake ready.

Additional earthquake hazard information:

Nevada Earthquake History. United States Geological Survey.

Nevada Earthquake Safety Council. Nevada Earthquake Safety Council.