Scientists release most detailed map yet of Teton Range quake fault

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Scientists have completed the most detailed map yet of one of North America’s most spectacular geologic faults with the hope of providing a better understanding of the earthquake risk at a popular vacation destination.

Millions of tourists visit Jackson Hole, Wyo., every year to sightsee, hike or ski the Teton Range, which was formed by the Teton fault.

Upward slippage of the fault’s western edge has pushed the mountains to their present height of some 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole in Grand Teton National Park.

The fault ranks among the fastest moving in the Rocky Mountain region. Scientists think it could produce an earthquake as powerful as magnitude 7.5, which would cause serious damage.

Research shows the Teton fault last ruptured more than 5,000 years ago. Whether the fault is overdue for a big quake is unknown, geologists said Friday.

“We’re always speaking in geologic time, which is thousands of years or hundreds of thousands of years,” Wyoming State Geologist Erin Campbell said.

Earthquakes are common in the region. In 1959, a magnitude-7.3 quake in a different fault area west of Yellowstone National Park in Montana killed 28 people, many of them buried by a landslide that blocked the Madison River.

The Wyoming State Geological Survey released the new map of the Teton fault this week. Copies may be downloaded for free or purchased online for $25.