QuakeIndex

Fault · California, Nevada

Smith Valley fault

88 kmlong (55 mi), as mapped
0.2–1 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
7quakes of M2.5+ within 10 km since 2016

In plain English

The two sides move 0.2 to 1 mm a year — 2 to 10 cm every century.

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

The largest earthquake recorded near it was M 6.1 in 1933 (22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada) — about 42,000 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 20 kilotons of TNT.

USGS maps it as 3 sections: unnamed central section, unnamed northern section, unnamed southern 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 faultGreat Valley thrust fault systemWassuk Range faultCarson lineamentRainbow Mountain faultTahoe-Sierra frontal faultWest Tahoe-Dollar Point faultAntelope Valley faultUpper Long Valley faultEast Carson Valley faultHuntoon Valley fault systemMount Rose faultDog Valley faultPolaris faultNorth Tahoe faultSagouse faultGenoa faultMono Lake faultIncline Village faultRobinson Creek faultLittle Valley faultCarson City faultKings Canyon faultWest Walker River faultRattlesnake Flat faultNorthern Virginia Range fault M 6.1 · 1933 · 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada
The Smith Valley fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 7 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 6.1 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada
    June 25, 1933 · epicentre 5 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 2.5 14 km E of Topaz, California
    2024-08-20 · 6 km from the trace
  2. M 2.5 13 km NE of Walker, California
    2023-10-31 · 5 km from the trace
  3. M 2.5 22km N of Bridgeport, CA
    2020-04-10 · 2 km from the trace
  4. M 3.2 12km NNW of Bridgeport, CA
    2019-11-22 · 7 km from the trace
  5. M 3.5 12km NNW of Bridgeport, CA
    2019-11-22 · 7 km from the trace
  6. M 2.5 12 km NW of Bridgeport, California
    2017-11-05 · 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.