HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by GIANELLA, V. P. Articles by CALLAGHAN, E. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake of December 20, 1932^*

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Abstract

The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake took place at about 10^h 10^m 04^s p.m., December 20, 1932. It was preceded by a foreshock noted locally and followed by thousands of aftershocks, which were reported as still continuing in January 1934. No lives were lost and there was very little damage.

The earthquake originated in southwest central Nevada, east of Mina. A belt of rifts or faults in echelon lies in the valley between Gabbs Valley Range and Pilot Mountains on the west and Cedar Mountain and Paradise Range on the east. The length of this belt is thirty-eight miles in a northwesterly direction, and the width ranges from four to nine miles. The rifts consist of zones of fissures which commonly reveal vertical displacement and in a number of places show horizontal displacement. The length of the rifts ranges from a few hundred feet to nearly four miles, and the width may be as much as 400 feet. The actual as well as indicated horizontal displacement is represented by a relative southward movement of the east side of each rift. The echelon pattern of the rifts within the rift area indicates that the relative movement of the adjoining mountain masses is the same. The direction of relative horizontal movement corresponds to that along the east front of the Sierra Nevada at Owens Valley and on the San Andreas rift.

Footnotes

^* [Published by permission of the Director, United States Geological Survey. Received for publication January 27, 1934.]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Historic Surface Faulting and Paleoseismicity in the Area of the 1954 Rainbow Mountain-Stillwater Earthquake Sequence, Central Nevada Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, August 1, 2004; 94(4): 1255 - 1275.

				S. J. Caskey, S. G. Wesnousky, P. Zhang, and D. B. Slemmons Surface faulting of the 1954 Fairview Peak (MS 7.2) and Dixie Valley (MS 6.8) earthquakes, central Nevada Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, June 1, 1996; 86(3): 761 - 787. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. OHMACHI and S. MIDORIKAWA Ground-motion intensity inferred from upthrow of boulders during the 1984 Western Nagano Prefecture, Japan, earthquake Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, February 1, 1992; 82(1): 44 - 60. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. I. DOSER Foreshocks and aftershocks of large (M greater double equals 5.5) earthquakes within the western Cordillera of the United States Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, February 1, 1990; 80(1): 110 - 128. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. I. DOSER and R. B. SMITH An assessment of source parameters of earthquakes in the cordillera of the western United States Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 1989; 79(5): 1383 - 1409. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. A. BOLT and R. A. HANSEN The upthrow of objects in earthquakes Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 1977; 67(5): 1415 - 1427. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. GILLULY The tectonic evolution of the western United States: SEVENTEENTH WILLIAM SMITH LECTURE Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, February 1, 1963; 119(1-4): 133 - 174. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. TOCHER Earthquake energy and ground breakage Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 1958; 48(2): 147 - 153. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. TOCHER The Dixie Valley-Fairview Peak earthquakes of December 16, 1954: Introduction Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 1957; 47(4): 299 - 300. [PDF]

				B. GUTENBERG Mechanism of faulting in southern California indicated by seismograms Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 1941; 31(4): 263 - 302. [PDF]

				E. CALLAGHAN and V. P. GIANELLA The earthquake of January 30, 1934, at Excelsior Mountains, Nevada Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 1935; 25(2): 161 - 168. [PDF]

				P. BYERLY The first preliminary waves of the Nevada earthquake of December 20, 1932 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, January 1, 1935; 25(1): 62 - 80. [Abstract] [PDF]