QuakeIndex

Fault · Nevada

West Gate fault

23 kmlong (14 mi), as mapped
< 0.2 mm/yrhow fast it slips
last 150 yearssince it last broke the surface
0quakes 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.

It has broken the ground surface within the last 150 years.

The largest earthquake recorded near it was M 7.1 in 1954 (The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake) — about 1,400,000 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 670 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

San Andreas faultShoshone Range faultWassuk Range faultDixie Valley faultWestern Humboldt Range faultBenton Spring faultRainbow Mountain faultDesatoya Mountains faultHot Springs Mountains faultEastern Carson Sink faultSand Springs Range faultFairview faultHot Springs faultSagouse faultGabbs Valley faultEastgate faultLouderback Mountains fault M 7.1 · 1954 · The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake
The West Gate fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, and the epicentres of the large historic earthquakes recorded near it (rings). Traces: USGS Quaternary Fault and Fold Database. Historic epicentres are estimates.

The big ones recorded near it

  1. M 7.1 The 1954 Fairview Peak, Nevada Earthquake
    December 16, 1954 · epicentre 20 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.

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.