Just about everything, besides our bank accounts, is oversized here in the Eastern Sierra. A USGS scientist believes that the 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake was bigger than the 19061872quake.jpg Earthquake in San Francisco.

At the White Mountain Research Station last week, USGS seismologist Susan Hough, presented a lecture on the 1872 quake that left 16 Lone Pine residents buried in a single grave that can be seen today.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire remains a prominent point in that Citys history. Hough explained that modern estimates put the magnitude of the San Francisco quake at 7.8.

Dr. Hough explained that when she studied the 1872 Owens Valley Quake she found historical accounts of damage to buildings in the Central Valley of California, up to 400 kilometers away. Previous studies had estimated the magnitude of the Owens Valley Quake at a 7.4. Other geologic studies of the ruptured fault in the Eastern Sierra, plus the historic accounts, lead Hough to up the magnitude to as high as a 7.9, and larger than the 1906 San Francisco quake.

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