Fault · Nevada
Northern Monitor Valley fault
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.
The largest earthquake recorded near it was M 4.5 in 2023 (45 km E of Austin, Nevada) — about 180 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 85 tons 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
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
- M 4.5 45 km E of Austin, Nevada
July 19, 2023 · epicentre 9 km from the trace - M 4.1 35 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
June 29, 2024 · epicentre 6 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
- M 3.5 33 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
2024-06-30 · 8 km from the trace - M 4.1 35 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
2024-06-29 · 6 km from the trace - M 2.8 36 km ESE of Austin, Nevada
2024-06-29 · 5 km from the trace - M 4.5 45 km E of Austin, Nevada
2023-07-19 · 9 km from the trace
Neighbouring faults
- Central Monitor Valley fault 19 km away
- Simpson Park Mountains fault 32 km away
- Western Roberts Mountains fault 39 km away
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.