The 1915 Pleasant Valley earthquake occurred at in north-central
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
. With a
moment magnitude
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...
of 6.8, a
surface wave magnitude
The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the Seismic scale#Magnitude scales, magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh wave, Rayleigh surface waves that travel alon ...
of 7.7, and a maximum
Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''), it was the strongest
earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
ever recorded in the state.
Earthquake
The earthquake remains as one of the best examples ever for evidence of creating
fault scarp
A fault scarp is a small step-like offset of the ground surface in which one side of a fault has shifted vertically in relation to the other. The topographic expression of fault scarps results from the differential erosion of rocks of contrastin ...
s along the west side of the
Tobin Range. It produced four scarps, with a total length of , and re-ruptured
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
scarps located at the bottom of the base of the mountain blocks. Among the scarps, the average vertical displacement among the affected areas was , and the maximum displacement of occurred near the old Pierce School site on Buskee Creek Canyon.
[Mt. Tobin, Nev 15 minute topographic quadrangle, 1961, USGS]
The rupture originated along an unnamed fault somewhere in the eastern side of Pleasant Valley, in north-central Nevada. The epicentral region was mostly uninhabited, so there was little property damage considering the very large magnitude.
Damage
The earthquake's damage was confined to within of the epicenter. Damage in Kennedy
Kennedy may refer to:
People
* Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname
** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes:
*** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...
destroyed two adobe
Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...
houses, collapsed several mine tunnels, and cracked concrete mine foundations. Winnemucca experienced damage to adobe buildings as well, and several multistory brick buildings lost coping
Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. It ...
and upper wall parts. Many chimneys were destroyed if they were above roof lines. Water tanks were knocked over in Battle Mountain, Kodiak, Lovelock, and Parran. Several ranches reported damage, all by the southern end of Pleasant Valley. More adobe houses were knocked down by the shaking; a masonry chicken house and a hog pen were destroyed; and houses were displaced from their foundations.
Aftershocks
The earthquake had several aftershock
In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...
s which disturbed a significant amount of land in Northern Nevada.
See also
* List of earthquakes in 1915
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* List of earthquakes in the United States
The following is a list of notable earthquakes and tsunamis which had their epicenter in areas that are now part of the United States with the latter affecting areas of the United States. Those in ''italics'' were not part of the United States wh ...
* List of earthquakes in Nevada
This is a list of earthquakes that have occurred in or near the US state of Nevada. Only earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 or greater will be included. Smaller quakes will not be listed unless they have caused damage, death or injury.
See ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Airel photographs and videos of the ridge.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pleasant Valley Earthquake, 1915
1915 earthquakes
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
*January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1
* ...
1915 in Nevada
1915 natural disasters in the United States
October 1915 in the United States