Anniversaries of two M 6.0 earthquakes in northern Nevada
Last week there were anniversaries of two M 6.0 earthquakes in northern Nevada:
Reno area—February 18, 1914
Wells area—February 21, 2008
Historical Reno Earthquakes (M 6.0 and M 6.4), February 18 and April 24, 1914
“A pair of earthquakes strongly shook Reno in 1914 and caused light damage to the city. The first earthquake was about magnitude 6 and occurred on February 18th at 10:17 a.m. PST. Shaking in Reno, Sparks, and Virginia City was so strong that people rushed to the streets fearing buildings were going to collapse (dePolo and Garside, 2006). The earthquake lasted for about 10 seconds and broke windows, cracked walls, and sent some parts of a brick firewall crashing to the ground in Reno (Reno Evening Gazette, 2/18/1914). The shaking cracked plaster and tossed contents on floors. The earthquake also cracked windows and caused bricks to fall as far away as Virginia City (Daily Territorial Enterprise, 2/19/1914).
A second, larger (~M 6.4) earthquake struck Reno on April 24th at 12:34 a.m. PST. This earthquake was stronger than the February event in nearly every aspect, and again people ran out of buildings in Reno. People were awakened from their sleep as far away as the Sacramento Valley in California from the shaking. In Reno, bricks fell from buildings, plaster was cracked, windows were cracked, and dishes were broken (REG 4/24/1914). Four chimneys were damaged up on University Hill (Reno Evening Gazette, 4/24/1914). In Virginia City, people who were awake dashed to the streets, as pictures were jarred from walls and dishes fell from shelves (Daily Territorial Enterprise, 4/24/1914).”
Excerpt from Damaging Earthquakes in Nevada: 1840s to 2008, by Craig M. dePolo:
http://pubs.nbmg.unr.edu/Damaging-earthquakes-in-NV-p/sp037.htm
2008 Wells Earthquake (M 6.0), February 21, 2008
You can read about the Wells earthquake in this publication edited by Craig M. dePolo and Daphne D. LaPointe:
The 21 February 2008 Mw 6.0 Wells, Nevada Earthquake: A Compendium of Earthquake-Related Investigations Prepared by the University of Nevada, Reno.