QuakeIndex

Fault · Oregon, Washington

Cascadia megathrust

754 kmlong (469 mi), as mapped
> 5 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
1quakes of M2.5+ within 10 km since 2016

In plain English

The two sides grind past each other faster than 5 mm a year — more than half a metre (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 1926 (119 km SSW of Ucluelet, Canada) — about 34,000 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 16 kilotons of TNT.

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

Alaska-Aleutian subduction zoneSan Andreas faultCascadia fold and fault beltBlanco transform faultNehalem Bank faultCalawah faultDaisy Bank faultNorth Ninitat faultAlvin Canyon faultStonewall anticlineSouth Ninitat faultFault HThompson Ridge faultWillapa Canyon faultCoos Basin faultLangley Hill faultCoquille anticlineSaddle Hill faultGrays Harbor faultHeceta Bank structureSouth Slough synclineMattole Canyon fault M 6.0 · 1926 · 119 km SSW of Ucluelet, Canada
The Cascadia megathrust as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 1 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 6.0 119 km SSW of Ucluelet, Canada
    September 17, 1926 · epicentre 22 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 2.8 104 km W of Yachats, Oregon
    2018-08-24 · 8 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.