QuakeIndex

Fault · California

Panamint Valley fault

104 kmlong (65 mi), as mapped
1–5 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 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 4.2 in 2018 (28km E of Trona, CA) — about 63 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 30 tons of TNT.

USGS maps it as 4 sections: Brown Mountain section, Wildrose section, northern Panamint Valley section, southern Panamint Valley 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 faultSouthern Sierra Nevada faultLenwood-Lockhart faultOwens Valley faultHelendale-South Lockhart faultBlack Mountains faultHarper faultBlackwater faultAsh Hill faultSouthern Death Valley faultLittle Lake faultTowne Pass faultPahrump faultManix faultAirport Lake faultOwl Lake faultRed Pass faultTank Canyon fault
The Panamint Valley 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.

The big ones recorded near it

  1. M 4.2 28km E of Trona, CA
    December 5, 2018 · epicentre on 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 2.5 41km NNW of Fort Irwin, CA
    2022-11-26 · 6 km from the trace
  2. M 2.8 43km NNW of Fort Irwin, CA
    2019-09-09 · 9 km from the trace
  3. M 3.7 28km E of Trona, CA
    2018-12-05 · 1 km from the trace
  4. M 4.2 28km E of Trona, CA
    2018-12-05 · 1 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.