December 14, 1998 4:26 PM

The University of Nevada Seismological Laboratory has recorded a small earthquake in Las Vegas, Nevada, at about 1:41 PM PST. Our preliminary moment magnitude for this event is 2.7.

Our best estimate of the earthquake location is 36.164 degrees north latitude, 115.313 degrees west longitude. This places the epicenter in west Las Vegas, near Charleston Boulevard about 8 miles west of the strip. The precise origin time is 37.8 seconds after 1:40 PM. The depth of the earthquake was estimated to be 10 km, but it is not well constrained.

Further information about the hazard in Las Vegas is described in last months publication of the Proceedings of a "Conference on Seismic Hazard in the Las Vegas Region". The report contains papers presented at a conference held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in November, 1996, and sponsored by the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council, the Geoscience Department of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, the Southwestern Section of the Association of Engineering Geologists, the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, the Nevada Seismological Laboratory and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The report is edited by Craig dePolo and published as Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Open File Report 98-6.

A theme of the conference was that Las Vegas does have a seismic hazard. Although much research remains to be done, this hazard is presumed to be low compared to the Reno-Carson City region. There are local faults near the epicenter of today's earthquake, but their activity rates are uncertain. Faults outside of the immediate Las Vegas Valley, including faults as far away as Death Valley, are also potential sources of strong earthquake shaking in Las Vegas.