Earthquake Information

Fault Name Index

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Kickapoo Fault (also known as Landers Fault)

TYPE OF FAULT: right-lateral strike-slip
LENGTH: about 5 km
NEAREST COMMUNITY: Landers
LAST SURFACE RUPTURE: June 28, 1992, MW7.3
SLIP RATE: 0.5 mm/yr (?)
INTERVAL BETWEEN MAJOR RUPTURES: uncertain; probably similar to Homestead Valley fault
PROBABLE MAGNITUDES: ML4.8 - 5.3, alone; up to MW7.3 or greater when combined with other faults
OTHER NOTES: May have slipped (sub-surface) during, possibly even initiated, the March 15, 1979, Homestead Valley earthquake, the epicenter of which was located near the surface trace of the Kickapoo (Landers) fault.

Discovered in 1992 after the Landers earthquake ruptured its surface trace for the first time in probably well over a thousand years, the Kickapoo fault (or Landers fault) is a short connecting fault that links the Johnson Valley and Homestead Valley faults. Despite its short length and previofusly-hidden nature, it broke with a maximum of nearly 3 meters (9.5 feet) of right-lateral displacement, and caused one of the most memorable phenomenon of the Landers rupture -- the warping of a house built almost directly atop the fault trace.

References

This fault is featured on the following map:

Mojave Fault Map