The Monta Vista Fault is a potentially active geologic fault

Geologic fault

In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement along the fractures as a result of earth movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of tectonic forces...

, i.e., a fault capable of generating destructive earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

s, in Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...

, USA. It is a relatively short fault that runs between and generally parallel to the much longer San Andreas Fault

San Andreas Fault

The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...

 and Hayward Fault zones, trending northwest along the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains

Santa Cruz Mountains

The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...

 in the Coast Range Geomorphic Province

Coast Range Geomorphic Province

The Coast Range Geomorphic Province is a portion of coastal California, United States. This orogen geomorphic province constitutes a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the San Joaquin Valley which trends northwest from Point Conception to the border with Oregon, with a significant break in the...

. The most recent activity was estimated to had been approximately 700,000 years ago. It has a slip rate of 0.4 mm/year. However, a recent magnitude 2.6 earthquake has been attributed to this fault. A more recent, shallow, magnitude 3.1 earthquake occurred on December 19, 2010 followed by a magnitude 2.4 aftershock at the same fault.

The Fault runs through the campus of the Foothill College

Foothill College

Foothill College is a community college located in Los Altos Hills, California and is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957 by Founding Superintendent and President Dr. Calvin C. Flint.-History:...

, meandering from under the child-care center and Fine Arts building to alongside the campus center and the Carriage House.