QuakeIndex

Fault · California

Black Mountains fault

70 kmlong (43 mi), as mapped
1–5 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
3quakes of M2.5+ within 10 km since 2016

In plain English

The two sides move 1 to 5 mm a year — 10 to 50 cm (4 to 20 inches) every century.

Its most recent surface rupture is younger than 15,000 years.

The largest earthquake recorded near it was M 6.0 in 1908 (Death Valley area, California) — about 32,000 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 15 kilotons of TNT.

USGS maps it as 4 sections: Artists Drive section, Copper Canyon section, Mustard Hills transition zone, Smith Mountain section.

This week vs. its last ten years

Too quiet to rank: fewer than half a year's worth of weeks with any M1.5+ quake within 5 km, in ten years. A single quake here would read as "unusual", so we do not score it.

Computed from the USGS catalogue · a description of the past, not a forecast · method

San Andreas faultGarlock faultPanamint Valley faultNorthern Death Valley faultRock Valley faultHunter Mountain- Saline Valley faultAsh Hill faultSouthern Death Valley faultWest Spring Mountains faultLittle Lake faultTowne Pass faultPahrump faultAirport Lake faultOwl Lake faultYucca Mountain faults, western groupTank Canyon fault M 6.0 · 1908 · Death Valley area, California
The Black Mountains fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 3 of the M2.5+ earthquakes within 10 km of it since 2016 (dots), and the epicentres of the large historic earthquakes recorded near it (rings). Traces: USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database. Historic epicentres are estimates.

Every year since 2016

Earthquakes of M2.5+ with an epicentre within 10 km of the mapped trace. Near is not the same as on: some will have slipped on neighbouring faults.

The big ones recorded near it

  1. M 6.0 Death Valley area, California
    November 4, 1908 · epicentre 23 km from the trace

Before 1973 from the USGS ComCat historical catalogue (within 25 km; epicentres of old earthquakes are estimates). Since 2016, M4+ within 10 km.

Most recent near it

  1. M 2.6 9km W of Furnace Creek, CA
    2022-05-18 · 7 km from the trace
  2. M 2.7 43km W of Shoshone, CA
    2020-04-21 · 9 km from the trace
  3. M 3.6 42km W of Shoshone, CA
    2018-12-17 · 10 km from the trace

Neighbouring faults

Fault trace, slip rate and age: USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database (public domain), simplified for the web. Earthquakes: USGS ComCat. QuakeIndex does not forecast earthquakes; a fault's history describes the past. For early warning use ShakeAlert.