Tacoma Fault

The Tacoma Fault, just north of the city of Tacoma, Washington, is an active east–west striking north dipping reverse fault with approximately 35 miles (56 km) of identified surface rupture. It is believed capable of generating earthquakes of at least magnitude Mw 7, and there is evidence of such a quake approximately 1,000 years ago, possibly the same earthquake documented on the Seattle Fault 24 miles (38 km) to the north.

Geology

The Tacoma Fault – actually a zone of connected faults – was first suspected from gravitational surveying in the 1960s, subsequently confirmed by seismic reflection and other geophysical data, and traced by detailed Lidar mapping; trenching and other paleoseismological studies have documented late Holocene uplift. It extends west to the small town of Allyn (near the tip of Hood Canal), terminating at the same north-striking geophysical anomaly (tentatively named the Tahuya Fault) that terminates the Seattle Fault to the north. To the east one strand is aligned with Commencement Bay and the Puyallup River, other strands (or related faults) cross the East Passage of south-central Puget Sound. How far east these faults extend is not known, but probably as far as the Kent Valley.

Seattle Uplift

The Tacoma Fault Zone marks the south end of the Seattle Uplift, of which the similar and related Seattle Fault Zone marks the north end. This uplift is believed to be either a slab of rock about 15 km thick being pushed up a ramp, or a wedge being popped up between these two faults, by tectonic forces from the south or south-west as tectonic plates riding on top of the Juan de Fuca plate are pushed against the North American craton.

The relationship of the Seattle Uplift with other neighboring blocks, and the nature of the faults between them, is not well known. If tectonic strain is from the south, and therefore perpendicular to the Seattle and Tacoma Faults, the motion on them should be entirely dip-slip (vertical).