Nevada Seismological Laboratory Welcomes Year 2000
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At 4:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, the computers in the Nevada Seismological 
Laboratory rolled over to the year 2000 without incident.  

Like every other seismological observatory throughout the world, the Nevada 
Seismological Laboratory operates on Greenwich Mean Time, the time in Greenwich,
England.  Use of a common time is essential for seismology, in which 
observatories from throughout the world routinely share data.  Midnight in 
Greenwich happens eight hours earlier than in Nevada, at 4:00 PM Pacific 
Standard Time.  Eight of the Seismological Laboratory staff were on hand to 
watch the clock change.  Nothing happened to affect the operations of the 
network.  By 4:30, nearly everyone had gone home to celebrate a second time.  

The Nevada Seismological Laboratory reports earthquakes in Nevada and adjacent 
parts of California east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Most of 
their stations, and most of the earthquakes, are in the western part of that 
region.

The largest event of the year was the Scottys Junction earthquake on August 1, 
1999.   That earthquake, magnitude 5.8, was felt distinctly in Las Vegas.  

The year 1999 was one of the quietest years of the decade for the state of 
Nevada, from the viewpoint of earthquake activity.  Altogether the Seismological
Laboratory located about 1734 earthquakes on the network in western Nevada.  
This is the lowest number in the entire decade of the 1990’s.  The highest numbr
is 7333 in 1993, and the average for the decade is about 3720.  

The year 1999 produced 12 earthquakes with magnitudes over 4.0.  All but four 
of those were in the Scottys Junction sequence.  In the 1990’s, Nevada averaged
15 earthquakes per year with magnitude of 4.0 or larger.  The highest number 
was again in 1993 (26), the lowest was 1991 (9)  The 12  in 1999 was also 
matched by 1996 at the second lowest annual total of the decade.  

Northern Nevada was unusually quiet.  If there was a “hot spot” north of Mammot
Lakes, it was the Mohawk Valley region west of Portola, California.  In part 
because of the activity near there, and in part because the earthquakes in that
area are poorly understood, the Nevada Seismological Laboratory added six 
stations to its network in that region in 1999.  

The staff of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory wishes everyone a very happy 
New Year!