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Arizona Earthquakes

Past Earthquakes of Note

Earthquake Information Links

Earthquake Related Research @ ASU

The most common historic earthquakes occur between Flagstaff and the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Areas of relatively higher earthquake hazard for Arizona are in the northwest quarter of the state and the far southwest where the hazard is due to the potential for earthquake rupture along the southernmost San Andreas Fault system of California.

The largest historic events (M6-6.2) occured in the early twentieth century (1906 and 1912) and have been located by NAU seismologists near and north of Flagstaff. The largest historic earthquake (M7.4) in the region occured in northern Sonora Mexico in 1887 (about 50 miles south-southeast of Douglas AZ) and caused damage in Tucson and was probably felt in Phoenix.