Active Faults

Active Faults

A fault is a break in the Earth's crust along which two blocks move. When it locks and then gives way suddenly, it causes an earthquake. The map shows 9,311 active faults (excluding plate boundaries, already drawn), visible when zoomed in and coloured by type.

The Three Types of Faults

Reverse Fault (Orange)

Compression. One block rises and rides over the other, as in the Himalayas.

Normal Fault (Blue)

Extension. The blocks pull apart and one drops, as in rifts.

Strike-Slip Fault (Violet)

The blocks slide horizontally past each other, like the San Andreas Fault.

Famous Faults

• 2,650 kmDenali Fault · strike-slip · United States of America, Canada2 quakes
• 1,750 kmNorth Anatolian Fault · strike-slip · Turkey19 quakes
• 1,640 kmMain Frontal Thrust (Himalaya) · reverse · Nepal, India2 quakes
• 1,440 kmSagaing Fault · strike-slip · Myanmar8 quakes
• 1,410 kmGreat Sumatran Fault · strike-slip · Indonesia7 quakes
• 1,380 kmAltyn Tagh Fault · strike-slip · People's Republic of China1 quakes
• 1,280 kmDead Sea Transform · strike-slip · Lebanon, Jordan2 quakes
• 1,240 kmSan Andreas Fault · strike-slip · United States of America5 quakes
• 1,160 kmKunlun Fault · strike-slip · People's Republic of China3 quakes
• 1,050 kmKarakoram Fault · strike-slip · People's Republic of China, India
• 950 kmLongmen Shan Thrust Belt · reverse · People's Republic of China
• 940 kmXianshuihe Fault · strike-slip · People's Republic of China7 quakes
• 920 kmTalas-Fergana Fault · strike-slip · Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan1 quakes
• 880 kmMotagua Fault · strike-slip · Guatemala, Mexico5 quakes
• 850 kmHaiyuan Fault · strike-slip · People's Republic of China1 quakes
• 770 kmFairweather Fault · strike-slip · United States of America4 quakes
• 740 kmAlpine Fault · strike-slip · New Zealand1 quakes
• 640 kmSeptentrional Fault · strike-slip · Dominican Republic2 quakes
• 510 kmMedian Tectonic Line · strike-slip · Japan
• 450 kmEnriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault · strike-slip · Haiti2 quakes
• 420 kmEl Pilar Fault · strike-slip · Venezuela3 quakes
• 310 kmWasatch Fault · normal · United States of America
• 130 kmHayward Fault · strike-slip · United States of America2 quakes

Sources: GEM Global Active Faults (Styron et Pagani, 2020), CC BY-SA 4.0 · NOAA NCEI · Wikidata