QuakeIndex

Fault · Wyoming

Buffalo Fork fault

30 kmlong (19 mi), as mapped
< 0.2 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
31quakes of M2.5+ within 10 km since 2016

In plain English

The two sides move less than 0.2 mm a year — under 2 cm a century. Slow faults can still produce large earthquakes, just rarely.

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

USGS maps it as 3 sections: middle section, northern section, southern section.

This week vs. its last ten years

0/100

quiet

0 quakes of M1.5+ within 5 km of the trace in the last 7 days — busier than 0% of weeks since 2016. A normal week: 0–0.

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

Grand Valley faultTeton faultEagle Bay faultRed Canyon faultUpper Yellowstone Valley faultsMirror Plateau faultsEast Mount Sheridan faultsHebgen fault
The Buffalo Fork fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 31 of the M2.5+ earthquakes within 10 km of it since 2016 (dots), . 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.

Most recent near it

  1. M 2.6 70 km NNE of Kelly, Wyoming
    2025-02-11 · 4 km from the trace
  2. M 2.7 54 km NNE of Kelly, Wyoming
    2023-08-12 · 8 km from the trace
  3. M 2.8 54 km NNE of Kelly, Wyoming
    2023-06-17 · 8 km from the trace
  4. M 3.0 64 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
    2023-03-29 · 5 km from the trace
  5. M 2.7 63 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
    2021-07-19 · 7 km from the trace
  6. M 2.6 63 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
    2021-07-17 · 5 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.