QuakeBeat

Teton Fault — the maker of the Grand Tetons

Wyoming, USARegion
NormalType
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The Teton Fault runs for roughly 70 kilometres along the eastern base of the Teton Range in northwestern Wyoming, at the edge of the Jackson Hole valley. It is a normal fault where the valley block subsides while the mountain block rises, giving the Tetons their abrupt, unbroken wall of peaks with no foothills.

This fault lies in the extending crust east of the Basin and Range and near the Yellowstone hotspot, and its cumulative slip over millions of years has lifted the range thousands of metres. The dramatic relief between valley floor and summit is a direct signature of repeated fault movement.

No large earthquake has been recorded on the Teton Fault in historical times, but geologists have found evidence of prehistoric ruptures capable of magnitude ~7 or more. Its long quiet interval and clear scarps make it a closely studied hazard for the Jackson Hole region.

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Biggest historic earthquakes in the area

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