M 6.5 Earthquake in Nevada

 In Event News

A M 6.5 earthquake occurred near Tonopah, Nevada, this morning, about 225 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and east of the California border.

Several aftershocks have been reported, two of which were recorded as M 5.4. The initial M 6.5 earthquake occurred at a depth of approximately 4.7 miles, and shaking was reported in Salt Lake City as well as California’s Central Valley.

The USGS tectonic summary for the event provides the following insights:

This earthquake occurred within the Walker Lane, an active zone of seismicity roughly aligned with the California-Nevada border. Tectonically, the Walker Lane accommodates up to 25% of the North America:Pacific Plate motion, with the remainder mostly accommodated on the San Andreas fault system.

About two dozen M5+ earthquakes have occurred within 100 km of this event over the past 50 years, mostly to the west and south. … As of 12pm UTC, 6 M4+ aftershocks have occurred since the M 6.5 earthquake, extending over a region about 30 km to the west of the mainshock.

USGS, May 15, 2020

Assessing the impact

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