1971 San Fernando (California) Earthquake Archive


1971 2/09 14:01 UTC  34.40N  118.39W  5km deep   Ms=6.5, San Fernando, California


The death toll of this earthquake was about 58, but the property damage was enormous.  The San Fernando earthquake has been extensively studied by many seismologists, geologists, and earthquake engineers.

We welcome contributions of digital files of materials relating to the San Fernando earthquake and financial donations to the endowment fund so that more seismograms can be scanned and made available online.  In addition, an archivist is needed to edit and maintain this Archive. If you are interested, please contact W.H.K. Lee at lee@usgs.gov (office) or  whklee@ix.netcom.com (home).

Archivist: A volunteer is needed.
Endowment Donors:
Contributors of Files: Charles R. Hutt, and William H. K. Lee.


1. Seismograms of the 1971 San Fernando (California) Earthquake:     Please click the above link to view the selected seismograms of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake recorded by the WWSSN stations.

view directory of compressed tif images (gzip files)

2. Selected Information about the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake now Online:    Allen, C. R., T. C. Hanks, and J. H. Whitcomb. San Fernando earthquake: seismological studies and their tectonic implications. In Murphy (1973), vol. III, p. 13-21.

3. References:
Jennings, P. C. (Editor) (1971). Engineering Features of the San Fernando Earthquake, February 9, 1971.

EERL 71-02, Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,CA, 512 pp.

Jephcott, D. K. and D. E. Hudson (1974). The Performance of Public School Plants during the San Fernando Earthquake, Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 606 pp.

Murphy, L. M. (Scientific Coordinator) (1973). S_an Fernando, California, Earthquake of February 9, 1971 in 3 volumes_. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., Volume I. Effects on Building Structures, 841 pp., Volume II. Utilities, Transportation, and Sociological Aspects, 325 pp., Volume III. Geological and Geophysical Studies, 432 pp.

Oakeshott, G. B. (Editor) (1975). San Fernando, California, Earthquake of 9 February 1971. Bulletin 196, California Division of Mines and Geology, Sacramento, CA, 463 pp.

USGS and NOAA (1971). The San Fernando, California, Earthquake of February 9, 1971. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 733, 254 pp.

 

(Last Updated: November 27, 2004)