Kunlun Fault
Tibet / China · continental transform · 6227.7 km of mapped active fault in 26 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.44 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 159 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 5.30 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 6227.7 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 26 |
| Tectonic setting | continental transform |
| Slip types | Sinistral |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | 33.11 to 36.21 latitude, 84.02 to 104.89 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 13 significant earthquakes attributed to this system since 1654.
The deadliest was the 1 July 1879 magnitude 8.0 earthquake (China: Gansu Province), which killed 22,000 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 8.0, on 21 July 1654 (China: Gansu Province: Tianshui).
The most recent entry is the 26 September 2025 magnitude 5.2 earthquake (China: Gansu Province: Longxi, Zhangxian).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 34,968 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 July 1879 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | China: Gansu Province | 22,000 dead, damage over $25 million |
| 21 July 1654 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | China: Gansu Province: Tianshui | 10,400 dead, damage over $25 million |
| 2 September 1765 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | China: Gansu Province: Wushan, Gangu | 2,068 dead, 74,748 homes destroyed, damage over $25 million |
| 20 July 1881 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | China: Gansu Province | 480 dead, 4,800 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 21 May 2021 | magnitude 7.3 earthquake | China: Qinghai Province | 20 dead, damage under $1 million |
| 14 November 2001 | magnitude 7.8 earthquake | China: Qinghai Province: Xidatan | damage under $1 million |
| 8 November 1997 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | China: Tibet (Xizang Province) | - |
| 14 July 1973 | magnitude 7.5 earthquake | China: Tibet (Xizang Province) | - |
| 19 April 1963 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | China: Qinghai Province | damage under $1 million |
| September 1677 | magnitude 5.5 earthquake | China: Gansu Province | damage under $1 million |
| 1 April 2020 | magnitude 5.4 earthquake | China: Qinghai Province | $11 million damage |
| 2 February 1960 | magnitude 5.3 earthquake | China: Gansu Province | damage under $1 million |
| 26 September 2025 | magnitude 5.2 earthquake | China: Gansu Province: Longxi, Zhangxian | $50 million damage |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Other systems in Tibet / China
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.