On the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe is a large fault that, according to Nevada Seismological Laboratory Director Graham Kent, is well overdue for a massive magnitude-7 earthquake. An earthquake is expected to occur every 30 years in the region but a magnitude-6.5 or larger quake hasn’t occurred in over six decades. For reference, there were seven magnitude-6.5 or larger earthquakes near Lake Tahoe from 1915 to 1954.
Earthquake experts were in Reno last week for the Seismological Society of America’s annual meeting where they discussed the Sierra earthquake “drought”.
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Seismologists predict that the Reno/Tahoe area will eventually experience a deadly earthquake. “This is an opportunity to scare you a little bit, or hopefully a lot,” Kent told the Associated Press. Kent estimates that a magnitude-6 quake could cause up to $1.9 billion in damage in the Reno-Sparks area and $590 million at Lake Tahoe.
The largest earthquake ever recorded in the Sierra fault system was a magnitude-7.4 in 1872 in Owens Valley south of Yosemite.
Rich Koehler, an assistant professor of geology at Nevada’s Bureau of Mines and Geology, said a magnitude-7 earthquake could potentially hit anytime, anywhere along the California-Nevada border.