The December 20, 1954 earthquake

M5.0near Gabbs, Nevada

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake, centred in Churchill County. The 96th strongest in Nevada’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.0 on December 17, 1954. 1 aftershock of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude: 5.0; local magnitude (ml)
Depth: —; Not recorded
Local time: Monday, December 20, 1954; 09:36 PST; 17:36 UTC
Epicentre: 39.28°N, 118.12°W; In Churchill County
In Nevada’s record: 96th; strongest of 8,110 since 1900
Within 50 miles: 5; counties; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ushis1999 (“48 km NNW of Gabbs, Nevada”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.

Aftershocks

Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 20 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.

Aftershocks in 30 days

4.6

Largest aftershock, Jan 19, 1955

On the first day

In the 7 days before

The search radius is the surface rupture length expected for an earthquake of this magnitude (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994), at least 20 and at most 600 miles, so a great earthquake's sequence is counted along its whole fault.
Before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s many small aftershocks went unrecorded, so early sequences read short.

Counties and cities within 50 miles

Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.

Counties

Churchill CountyNV · inside
Lander CountyNV · 19.2 mi
Mineral CountyNV · 19.7 mi
Nye CountyNV · 19.8 mi
Lyon CountyNV · 35.9 mi

Earthquakes around the epicentre

161 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.

Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.