Tintina Fault

The Tintina Fault is a large right-lateral strike-slip fault in western North America, extending from Flathead Lake, Montana to the centre of the U.S. state of Alaska.^[1] It represents the Yukon continuum between the Rocky Mountain Trench in the northern contiguous United States and the Kaltag Fault in Alaska.^[2]

Unlike the Denali Fault, which ruptured a 200 km (120 mi) portion of its central segment during the 2002 Denali earthquake, the Tintina Fault is considered inactive. Despite this classification, researchers noted a magnitude 5.3 right-lateral event in 1972 and a relatively young (Holocene) 14 km (8.7 mi) scarp with a maximum offset of 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in).^[3] A 2025 study suggests that stress may be developing along the Tintina Fault which could produce a magnitude 7.5 or higher earthquake.^[4]

References

^ Connor, Cathy (2014). Roadside Geology of Alaska (2nd ed.). Missoula, Montana USA: Mountain Press Publishing Company. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-87842-619-5.
^ Mineral deposits of the Tanana – Yukon Uplands: A Summary Report
^ Yeats, R. (2012), Active Faults of the World, Cambridge University Press, pp. 37–40, ISBN 978-0521190855
^ Theron, Finley; Nissen, Edwin; Cassidy, John F.; Salomon, Guy; Leonard, Lucind J.; Froese, Duane (2025). "Large Surface-Rupturing Earthquakes and a >12 kyr, Open Interseismic Interval on the Tintina Fault, Yukon". Geophysical Research Letters. 52 (14). doi:10.1029/2025GL116050.

Tintina Fault

See also

References

Further reading