The Seismotectonics of the 30 October 1998 Incline Village, Nevada Earthquake and Its Effects

Abstract

INTRODUCTION On Friday, October 30, 1998, at 1:53 am local time (9:53:31 UT), an earthquake of magnitude Mw 4.9 (UNR) took place near the California-Nevada state border. The epicenter of the event was 7 km north-northwest of Incline Village, Nevada and the north shore of Lake Tahoe (39°18.14′N, 119°58.76′W) (see Figures 1 and 2). A focal depth of 10.5 ± 0.3 km and strike-slip focal mechanism suggest it is similar to other recent eastern Sierra Nevada-Western Basin and Range Extensional Province earthquakes (Rogers et al., 1991; Ichinose et al., 1998a). The earthquake occurred 4 km northwest of the surface trace of the northeast-striking North Tahoe-Incline Village Fault Zone, which is the largest fault zone in the area (Figure 2). This is a system of south-east-dipping normal faults, so the earthquake is well within the footwall of this fault zone. The Seismological Laboratory received felt reports, from which we assigned the...