QuakeIndex

Fault · Nevada

Cortez Mountains fault

63 kmlong (39 mi), as mapped
< 0.2 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
4quakes 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, northeast section, southwest 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 faultShoshone Range faultSimpson Park Mountains faultCarico Lake Valley faultBuffalo Valley faultSouthern Huntington Valley faultSulphur Spring faultWestern Roberts Mountains faultCrescent Valley faultsNorthern Simpson Park Mountains fault
The Cortez Mountains fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 4 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 3.8 17 km E of Crescent Valley, Nevada
    2024-03-04 · 4 km from the trace
  2. M 2.9 18 km ESE of Crescent Valley, Nevada
    2023-07-26 · 2 km from the trace
  3. M 2.5 32 km SSW of Crescent Valley, Nevada
    2022-05-10 · 4 km from the trace
  4. M 2.7 10 km E of Crescent Valley, Nevada
    2018-08-04 · 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.