In 1954, the state of Nevada was struck by a series of earthquakes that began with three magnitude 6.0+ events in July and August that preceded the Mw  7.1–7.3 mainshock and M 6.9 aftershock, both on December 12.

The Basin and Range Province is bounded by the Colorado Plateau, Wasatch Fault, Rio Grande Rift and Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

[10] In western Nevada, along the border with California, faulting mechanisms are dominantly strike-slip along a shear zone known as the Walker Lane.

Rupture was to the south of the Rainbow Mountain Fault scarp from the mainshock and had a larger strike slip component.

[14] On August 24, an Mw 6.6 earthquake with a similar mechanism struck north at the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge.

Rupture started within the scarp created a month and a half earlier, but it propagated northward through it for a new 20 km (12 mi) of displacement.

), landslides and mudflows, temporary mud and silt volcanoes, and a "patchwork" of anastomosing secondary cracks all resulted from the earthquake.

Old and poorly built, un-reinforced brick structures were severely damaged, and many chimneys fell as a result.

Twelve sailors were injured at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station when shaking knocked heavy steel lockers and shattered glass onto them, the most serious injury was a broken leg.

[2] Canals and drainage systems of the Newlands Reclamation Project near Fallon were damaged heavily due to liquefaction from dam failure.

[15] The August earthquake caused further destruction to Fallon; seven more structures had to be torn down due to the severity of the damage.

[4] The December 16 main shocks frightened the residents of Fallon, many of them did not stay in their homes during the winter night.

[19] In Sacramento, 322 km away, the earthquake caused some $20,000 in damages to a water tank belonging to the city's filtration plant.