The 1872 Owens Valley earthquake – also known as the Lone Pine earthquake – struck on March 26 at in the
Owens Valley
Owens Valley (Numic
Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...
(California, along the east side of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
), with the epicenter near the town of
Lone Pine. Its magnitude has been estimated at 7.4 to 7.9, with a maximum
Mercalli Intensity
The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...
of X (''Extreme''). It was one of the largest
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
s to hit California in
recorded history
Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...
and was similar in size to the
1906 San Francisco earthquake
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...
. Twenty-seven people were killed and fifty-six were injured.
Tectonic setting
The earthquake resulted from sudden vertical movement of and right-lateral movement of on the Lone Pine Fault and part of the
Owens Valley Fault Owens may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Owens Station, Delaware
*Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota
*Owens, Missouri
*Owens, Ohio
*Owens, Virginia
People
* Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Owens Bro ...
. These
faults are part of a twin system of
normal fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
s that run along the base of two parallel mountain ranges; the Sierra Nevada on the west and the
Inyo Mountains
The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fro ...
on the east of the Owens Valley. It created
fault scarp
A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other. It is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement al ...
s from north of
Big Pine, north of Lone Pine, to
Haiwee Reservoir
Haiwee (Timbisha: ''Heewi'', meaning "Dove") is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, California. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad south-southwest of Keeler, at an elevation of 4075 feet (1242 m).
History
Haiwee has variou ...
() south of Lone Pine.
Earthquake
![Pyramid stone on Lone Pine fault scarp-750px](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Pyramid_stone_on_Lone_Pine_fault_scarp-750px.jpg)
The earthquake occurred on a Tuesday morning and leveled almost all the buildings in Lone Pine and nearby settlements.
Of the estimated 250–300 inhabitants of Lone Pine, 27 are known to have perished and 52 of the 59 houses were destroyed. One report states that the main buildings were thrown down in almost every town in
Inyo County
Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is o ...
. About south of Lone Pine, at
Indian Wells,
adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
houses sustained cracks. Property loss has been estimated at $250,000 (). As in many earthquakes, adobe, stone and
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
structures fared worse than wooden ones which prompted the closing of nearby
Camp Independence
Fort Independence, originally named Camp Independence, was a fort located in the Owens Valley, north of present-day Independence, Inyo County, eastern California. The U.S. Army post was active from 1862 to 1877.
History
Camp Independence
Camp ...
which was an adobe structure destroyed in the quake.
The quake was felt strongly as far away as
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, where citizens were startled out of bed and into the streets. Giant
rockslide
A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes through compacted rock and material collapses ''en masse'' and not in individual blocks. Note that a rockslide is similar to an avalanc ...
s in what is now
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...
woke naturalist
John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
, then living in
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...
, who reportedly ran out of his cabin shouting, "A noble earthquake!" and promptly made a moonlit survey of the fresh
talus piles. This earthquake stopped clocks and awakened people in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
to the south,
Red Bluff Red Bluff(s) may refer to several places in North America:
Places
Canada
*Red Bluff, British Columbia, a community near Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada
** Red Bluff First Nation, a First Nations band government headquartered near Quesnel, ...
, to the north, and
Elko, Nevada
Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...
, to the east. The shock was felt over most of California and much of
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
. Thousands of
aftershock
In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...
s occurred, some severe.
Aftermath
![1872-Earthquake-Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/1872-Earthquake-Memorial.jpeg)
Researchers later estimated that similar earthquakes occur on the Lone Pine fault every 3,000–4,000 years. However, the Lone Pine fault is only one of many faults on two parallel systems.
This earthquake also formed a small
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
that later was filled by water, creating
Diaz Lake.
The common grave of the earthquake's victims is now registered as
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
#507.
California Historical Landmark
Grave of 1872 Earthquake Victims is a
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
number 507, assigned on July 31, 1953.
The California Historical Landmark reads:
:NO. 507 GRAVE OF 1872 EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS- On March 26, 1872, a major earthquake shook Owens Valley, nearly destroying the town of Lone Pine. About fourteen of its victims (the exact number is not known) were interred in a common grave, enclosed by this fence.
See also
*
Inyo County, California
Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is ...
*
List of earthquakes in California
The earliest known California earthquake was documented in 1769 by the Spanish explorers and Catholic missionaries of the Portolá expedition as they traveled northward from San Diego along the Santa Ana River near the present site of Los Angeles ...
*
List of earthquakes in the United States
The following is a list of notable earthquakes and tsunamis which had their epicenter in areas that are now part of the United States with the latter affecting areas of the United States. Those in ''italics'' were not part of the United States whe ...
*
List of historical earthquakes
Historical earthquakes is a list of significant earthquakes known to have occurred prior to the beginning of the 20th century. As the events listed here occurred before routine Seismometer, instrumental recordings, they rely mainly on the analys ...
References
;Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:1872 Lone Pine Earthquake
1872
Events
January–March
* January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.
* February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...
Lone Pine
Lone Pine earthquake
Owens Valley
History of Inyo County, California
History of the Mojave Desert region
History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Lone Pine earthquake
Lone Pine earthquake
March 1872 events