World Map › Active Faults › Motagua Fault
Active Fault
Motagua Fault
Strike-Slip Fault (Left-Lateral) · Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Belize
The Motagua Fault is a strike-slip fault, where the two blocks slide horizontally past each other, left-lateral (the opposite block moves to the left). Its mapped traces are about 880 km long in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Belize. It marks the boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. Its slip rate is estimated at 2 mm per year. Since 1900, 5 major earthquakes have occurred within 30 km of its trace.
- Type
- Strike-Slip Fault
- Sense of Slip
- Left-Lateral
- Mapped Length
- ≈ 880 km
- Slip Rate
- 2 mm per year
- Countries
- Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Belize
- Plates
- North American Plate, Caribbean Plate
Major Earthquakes Within 30 km
Deadly or magnitude 7+ earthquakes recorded by NOAA, most recent first.
- 19911991 Guatemala Earthquake · M 6.225 deaths
- 1978Patzun, Guatemala · M 4.517 deaths
- 19761976 Guatemala Earthquake · M 7.523,000 deaths
- 1968S Chiapas, Mexico · M 6.120 deaths
- 1917Guatemala City, Guatemala · M 62,650 deaths
Sources: GEM Global Active Faults (Styron et Pagani, 2020), CC BY-SA 4.0, catalogue GEM_Central_Am_Carib · NOAA NCEI · Bird (2003), PB2002 · Wikidata