Overview

• The Tintina fault has been quiet for the past 12,000 years with no evidence of Holocene surface-rupturing quakes.
• Geologists used high-resolution satellite, drone and lidar surveys to identify ancient scarps showing 1,000 m and 75 m offsets from quakes 2.6 million and 132,000 years ago.
• Strain measurements indicate the fault accumulates 0.2–0.8 mm per year, creating a six-meter slip deficit over 12 millennia.
• The July study projects potential magnitude 7.5+ earthquakes and has prompted Canada’s National Seismic Hazard Model to list the fault as a discrete seismic source.
• Yukon and Alaska authorities are reviewing emergency response protocols and reinforcing highways, mines and other critical infrastructure.