The June 23, 1959 earthquake
M5.5near Schurz, Nevada
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake 9.3 miles deep, centred in Mineral County. The 35th strongest in Nevada’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.7 on March 22, 1959. 1 aftershock of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.5
- moment magnitude (mw)
- Depth
- 9.3 mi
- 15.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Tuesday, June 23, 1959
- 07:35 PDT; 14:35 UTC
- In Nevada’s record
- 35th
- strongest of 8,110 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem882314 (“13 km NW of Schurz, 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.
1
Aftershocks in 30 days
5.4
Largest aftershock, Jun 23, 1959 · its page
1
On the first day
0
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
- Mineral CountyNV · inside
- Lyon CountyNV · 3.4 mi
- Churchill CountyNV · 9.5 mi
- Douglas CountyNV · 20.5 mi
- Carson CityNV · 33.4 mi
- Storey CountyNV · 36.4 mi
- Nye CountyNV · 39.5 mi
- Alpine CountyCA · 41.3 mi
- Mono CountyCA · 41.3 mi
- Washoe CountyNV · 43.7 mi
Cities, largest first
- Carson CityNV · 44.6 mi
- FernleyNV · 39.6 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
813 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
- August 23, 1954M6.5
- April 24, 1914M6.4
- July 6, 1954M6.2
- June 25, 1933M6.1
- July 6, 1954M5.9
- December 16, 1954M5.8
- March 22, 1959M5.7
- July 6, 1954M5.7
- July 6, 1954M5.5
- January 11, 1939M5.5
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.