The 1892 Laguna Salada earthquake occurred at . It had an estimated moment magnitude of 7.1–7.2 and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The shock was centered near the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

and takes its name from a large dry lake bed in

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico. There were no reported casualties, but the event affected the then largely-uninhabited areas of northern Mexico and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

Tectonic setting

The

Salton Trough The Salton Trough is an active tectonic pull-apart basin, or graben. It lies within the Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego counties of southeastern California, United States and extends south of the Mexico–United States border into the state of ...

is part of the complex plate boundary between the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

and the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...

where it undergoes a transition from the continental transform of the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...

system to the series of short spreading centers of the

East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean rise (termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along ...

linked by oceanic transforms in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

. The southern part of the trough is divided into two by the Sierra Cucapa and Sierra Mayor ranges forming the

Mexicali Valley Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Calexico–Mexical ...

to the east and the

Laguna Salada Laguna Salada (, ''Salt Lake'') is a municipality (''municipio'') of the Valverde province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there are three municipal districts (''distritos municipal''): Cruce de Guayacanes, Jaibón and La ...

to the west. The western side of these ranges is formed by the

Laguna Salada Fault The Laguna Salada Fault is a geological fault between the United States and Mexico. About long, it straddles the Imperial County-California–Baja California border. Earthquakes 1892 According to some seismologists the 1892 Laguna Salada ...

, which forms a possible continuation of the Elsinore Fault Zone of southern California. The Laguna Salada Fault shows combined normal (down to the southwest) and dextral ( right-lateral) movement. Prior to 2010 it showed evidence of recent (probably historical) displacement with a zone of surface faulting, and of vertical displacement. This is interpreted to be associated with the 1892 earthquake.

Earthquake

The earthquake was felt over a wide area from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and San Bernardino in the north to San Quintin in the south. The area in which the perceived intensity of shaking reached VIII (''Severe'') or more was centered on the mapped fault rupture.

Damage

A report from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' the following day stated no damage was found in Los Angeles, but also specified that severe shocks were felt in San Diego. Masonry walls were cracked in several buildings there, as well as the outlying communities of Otay and Jamul. At the abandoned Carrizo Creek Stage Station, in what is now Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego county, poorly built masonry was damaged and all adobe buildings were destroyed. At Hook Ranch and Laguna Station the shaking was strong enough to throw people off their feet and at Dulzura Canyon and McCain Valley the ground was seen to move in waves. There were rockfalls at Bratton Valley, Tierra Blanca Canyon, Storm Canyon and Whale Peak and landslides at Dulzura Canyon and Devil's Canyon.

Aftershocks

Campo, California Campo (Spanish for "Field") is an unincorporated community in the Mountain Empire area of southeastern San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 2,684 at the 2010 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bur ...

155 aftershocks were felt in the first 12 hours after the mainshock and continued every few days for the next two months.

Other events

The Laguna Salada fault moved again during the

2010 Baja California earthquake The 2010 Baja California earthquake (also known as 2010 Easter earthquake, 2010 Sierra El Mayor earthquake, or 2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake) occurred on April 4 (Easter Sunday) with a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intens ...

References

External links

Rupture Pattern of the 1892 Laguna Salada Earthquake: A Precursor to 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah
– Southern California Earthquake Center {{Earthquakes in the United States

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

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 ...

Geology of Imperial County, California Natural history of Baja California

February 1892 events 1892 disasters in North America 1892 disasters in Mexico