The August 19, 1959 earthquake
M5.0near Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake 3.1 miles deep, centred in Madison County. The 23rd strongest in Montana’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 6.0 on August 18, 1959. 2 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0
- as reported (uk)
- Depth
- 3.1 mi
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Wednesday, August 19, 1959
- 12:06 MST; 19:06 UTC
- In Montana’s record
- 23rd
- strongest of 1,459 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ushis2402 (“31 km W of Hebgen Lake Estates, Montana”). 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.
2
Aftershocks in 30 days
5.0
Largest aftershock, Aug 20, 1959 · its page
1
On the first day
2
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
- Madison CountyMT · inside
- Fremont CountyID · 9.2 mi
- Beaverhead CountyMT · 9.4 mi
- Gallatin CountyMT · 11.3 mi
- Clark CountyID · 18.6 mi
- Teton CountyWY · 28.2 mi
- Park CountyWY · 28.2 mi
- Park CountyMT · 29.4 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
370 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 17, 1959M7.2
- August 18, 1959M6.5
- August 18, 1959M6.3
- November 23, 1947M6.1
- August 18, 1959M6.0
- August 18, 1959M6.0
- August 18, 1959M5.7
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.