The United States Geological Survey
recorded swarm of Earthquakes in western Nevada, beginning with a pair of a Magnitude 5.7 Earthquake at a depth of 8-12 km, slightly under 30 km to the southwest of the town of Hawthorne in Mineral
County in western Nevada, at about 0.20 am local time (about 8.20 am GMT) on Wednesday 18 December 2016. About 50 quakes, mostly quite small, were recorded in the same area during the next 24 hours. There
are no reports of any serious damage or injuries associated with this quake, but some damage to properties has been reported in rural areas of Mineral County, as well as some road closures due to landslips. The events were felt across much of Nevada and California.
Damage to a property on a ranch in Mineral County, Nevada, following the 28 December 2016 Earthquakes. David Ziegler/KoloTV.
Nevada is a zone of active mountain orogeny (mountain growth), fuelled by
the subduction zone on the American West Coast. The state is
criss-crossed by faults associated with its many growing mountain
ranges, which form part of the Rockies. The rocks of the North American
lithosphere are being pushed to the east by seafloor spreading beneath
the Pacific and to the west by seafloor spreading beneath the Atlantic.
This results in folding and upthrust within the plate, principally in
the Rocky Mountains, which run along the western margin of the North
American Plate, close to the subduction and fault zones of the
continent's west coast. This folding and thrusting leads to frequent
Earthquakes throughout the Rocky Mountain region, with Nevada being one
of America's most quake-prone states.
The approximate location of the 28 December 2016 Mineral County Earthquake swarm. USGS.
See also...
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