QuakeIndex

Fault · Utah

West Valley fault

16 kmlong (10 mi), as mapped
0.2–1 mm/yrhow fast it slips
< 15,000 yearssince it last broke the surface
76quakes 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 5.7 in 2020 (5 km NNE of Magna, Utah) — about 11,000 times the energy of an M3.0, the size people start to feel. It released about 5.4 kilotons of TNT.

USGS maps it as 2 sections: Granger section, Taylorsville fault.

This week vs. its last ten years

0/100

quiet

0 quakes of M1.5+ within 5 km of the trace in the last 7 days — busier than 0% of weeks since 2016. A normal week: 0–0.

Computed from the USGS catalogue · a description of the past, not a forecast · method

Wasatch faultGreat Salt Lake faultSkull Valley (mid-valley) faultsStansbury faultStrawberry faultUtah Lake faultsMain Canyon faultSouthern Oquirrh Mountains faultOquirrh faultMorgan fault
The West Valley fault as mapped at the surface (glowing), with the other mapped faults nearby, 76 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 5.7 5 km NNE of Magna, Utah
    March 18, 2020 · epicentre 6 km from the trace
  2. M 4.6 6 km NNE of Magna, Utah
    March 18, 2020 · epicentre 5 km from the trace
  3. M 4.6 5 km NE of Magna, Utah
    March 18, 2020 · epicentre 4 km from the trace
  4. M 4.2 4 km NE of Magna, Utah
    April 16, 2020 · epicentre 5 km from the trace
  5. M 4.2 1 km NNW of Magna, Utah
    March 18, 2020 · epicentre 9 km from the trace
  6. M 4.2 4 km NE of Magna, Utah
    April 15, 2020 · 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 3.5 4 km NNW of West Valley City, Utah
    2026-02-14 · 3 km from the trace
  2. M 2.5 5 km ENE of Magna, Utah
    2024-08-02 · 4 km from the trace
  3. M 2.5 3 km ENE of Magna, Utah
    2023-06-21 · 6 km from the trace
  4. M 2.5 1 km NNE of Magna, Utah
    2022-06-03 · 9 km from the trace
  5. M 2.5 4 km NE of Magna, Utah
    2020-07-25 · 5 km from the trace
  6. M 2.7 4 km NE of Magna, Utah
    2020-04-21 · 5 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.