Fault Slip Transfer in the Eastern California Shear Zone-Walker Lane Belt

Lee, Jeffrey; Stöckli, Daniel F.; Schroeder, Jeffrey M.; Tincher, Christopher; Bradley, David; Owen, Lewis A.; Gosse, John C.; Finkel, Robert C.; Garwood, Jason

doi:10.1130/2006.fstite.pfg

Cited by 4 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…3) to calculate Pliocene to Pleistocene horizontal extension, dextral, and sinistral fault slip rates across the VBR. These data, combined with published fault slip rates on other faults in this region (Stockli et al, 2000;Bradley, 2005;Kirby et al, 2006Kirby et al, , 2008Lee et al, 2006Lee et al, , 2009aTincher and Stockli, 20019;Nagorsen-Rinke et al, 2013), also allow us to refine the proposed kinematic model of Nagorsen-Rinke et al (2013) for this transition zone, propose a simple transrotational model for the VBR region, and address the apparent discrepancy between short-term geodetic and long-term geologic slip rates across the northern part of the ECSZ.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…2B and 3). Thus, the Mina deflection defines a stepover within the NW-trending dextral WLB-ECSZ and is composed of sinistral, dextral, and normal faults (Wesnousky, 2005;Bradley, 2005;Lee et al, 2006Lee et al, , 2009bTincher and Stockli, 2009;Nagorsen-Rinke et al, 2013;this study).…”

Section: ■ Regional Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4). The first component is defined by a northeast extensional stepover, via normal faults across the basin that underlies Bishop, California (Sheehan, 2007) (Bradley, 2005;Lee et al, 2006); Owens Valley fault (Kirby et al, 2006); Queen Valley fault (Stockli et al, 200;Lee et al, 2009b); White Mountain fault zone (Kirby et al, 2008;Lifton, 2013). See text for details.…”

Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nagorsen-Rinke et al's (2013) kinematic model and Lee et al's (2009b) kinematic model across the Queen Valley region (Fig. 4) use published fault slip rates along the sinistral Coaldale fault (Bradley, 2005;Lee et al, 2006;Tincher and Stockli, 2009), the Queen Valley normal fault (Lee et al, 2009a;Tincher and Stockli, 2009;Stockli et al, 2000), dextral and sinistral faults in the Adobe Hills region (Nagorsen-Rinke et al, 2013), the dextral White Mountain fault zone (Kirby et al, 2006), and the northern end of the dextral Owens Valley fault (Kirby et al, 2008) to make slip rate predictions for several faults across the ECSZ-Mina deflection transition including 0.6 mm/yr of ENE-WSWextension across the Black Mountain area, and 1.1 mm/yr of NW-dextral shear and 0.5 mm/yr of NE-SW extension across the River Spring area (Fig. 4).…”

Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3). The VBR is underlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, Mesozoic volcanic and intrusive rocks, Neogene and Quaternary volcanic, volcaniclastic, and sedimentary rocks, and normal, dextral, and sinistral faults (Rinehart and Ross, 1957;Bateman, 1965;Gilbert et al, 1968;Crowder and Sheridan, 1972;Krauskopf and Bateman, 1977;Oldow, 1992;Reheis et al, 2002;Bradley, 2005;Lee et al, 2006Lee et al, , 2009bTincher and Stockli, 2009;Petronis et al, 2009;Oldow et al, 2009;Nagorsen-Rinke et al, 2013;this study).…”

Section: ■ Geologic Setting Of the Vbr Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Dextral, normal, and sinistral faulting across the eastern California shear zone–Mina deflection transition, California-Nevada, USA

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Strike-slip faults commonly include extensional and contractional bends and stepovers, whereas rotational stepovers are less common. The Volcanic Tableland, Black Mountain, and River Spring areas (California and Nevada, USA) (hereafter referred to as the VBR region) straddle the transition from the dominantly NW-striking dextral faults that define the northwestern part of the eastern California shear zone into a rotational stepover characterized by dominantly NE-striking sinistral faults that define the southwestern Mina deflection. New detailed geologic mapping, structural studies, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology across the VBR region allow us to calculate Pliocene to Pleistocene fault slip rates and test predictions for the kinematics of fault slip transfer into this rotational stepover. In the VBR, Mesozoic basement is nonconformably overlain by a Miocene sequence of rhyolite, dacite, and andesite volcanic rocks that yield 40Ar/39Ar ages between 22.878 ± 0.051 Ma and 11.399 ± 0.041 Ma. Miocene rocks are unconformably overlain by an extensive sequence of Pliocene basalt and andesite lava flows and cinder cones that yield 40Ar/39Ar ages between 3.606 ± 0.060 Ma and 2.996 ± 0.027 Ma. The Pliocene sequence is, in turn, unconformably overlain by Quaternary tuffs and sedimentary rocks. This sequence of rocks is cut by NS- to NW-striking normal faults across the Volcanic Tableland that transition northward into NS-striking normal faults across the Black Mountain area and that, in turn, transition northward into NW-striking dextral and NE-striking sinistral faults in the River Spring area. A range of geologic markers were used to measure offset across the faults in the VBR, and combined with the age of the markers, yield minimum ∼EW-extension rates of ∼0.5 mm/yr across the Volcanic Tableland and Black Mountain regions, and minimum NW-dextral slip and NE-sinistral slip rates of ∼0.7 and ∼0.3 mm/yr, respectively, across the River Spring region. In the River Spring area, our preferred minimum dextral slip and sinistral slip rates are 0.8–0.9 mm/yr and 0.7–0.9 mm/yr, respectively. We propose three kinematic fault slip models, two irrotational and one rotational, whereby the VBR region transfers a portion of dextral Owens Valley fault slip northwestward into the Mina deflection. In irrotational model 1, Owens Valley fault slip is partitioned into two components, one northeastward onto the White Mountain fault zone and one northwestward into the Volcanic Tableland. Slip from the two zones is then transferred northward into the southwestern Mina deflection. In irrotational model 2, Owens Valley fault slip is partitioned into three components, with the third component partitioned west-northwest onto the Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone. In the rotational model, predicted sinistral slip rates across the southwestern Mina deflection are at least 115% greater than our observed minimum slip rates, implying our minimum observed rates underestimate true sinistral slip rates. A comparison of summed geologic fault slip rates, parallel to motion of the Sierra Nevada block relative to the central Great Basin, from the Sierra Nevada northeastward across the VBR region and into western Nevada are the same as geodetic rates, if our assumptions about the geologic slip rate across the dextral White Mountain fault zone is correct.

show abstract

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: ■ Regional Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Geologic Setting Of the Vbr Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Dextral, normal, and sinistral faulting across the eastern California shear zone–Mina deflection transition, California-Nevada, USA

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Rates of extension along the Fish Lake Valley fault and transtensional deformation in the Eastern California shear zone–Walker Lane belt

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The oblique-normal-dextral Fish Lake Valley fault accommodates the majority of Pacifi c-North America plate-boundary deformation east of the San Andreas fault in the northern part of the Eastern California shear zone. New rates for the extensional component of fault slip, determined with light imaging and detection (LiDAR) topographic data and 10 Be geochronology of four offset alluvial fans, indicate a northward increase in extension rate. The surface exposure ages of these fans range from ca. 71 ka at Perry Aiken Creek and Indian Creek to ca. 94 ka and ca. 121 ka at Furnace Creek and Wildhorse Creek, respectively. These ages, combined with the measured vertical components of slip at each site, an assumed 60° fault dip, and a N65°E extension direction, yield calculated late Pleistocene-Holocene horizontal extension rates of 0.1 ± 0.1, 0.3 ± 0.2, 0.7 +0.3/-0.1, and 0.5 +0.2/-0.1 mm/yr at Furnace Creek, Wildhorse Creek, Perry Aiken Creek, and Indian Creek, from south to north, respectively. Comparison of these rates with geodetic measurements of ~1 mm/yr of N65°E extension across the northern Eastern California shear zone indicates that the Fish Lake Valley fault accommodates approximately half of the current rate of regional extension. When summed with published rates of extension for faults at the same latitude, the Fish Lake Valley fault data indicate that long-term geologic deformation rates are commensurate with short-term geodetic extension rates. The northward increase in Pleistocene extension rates is opposite the northward decrease in dextral slip rate trend along the Fish Lake Valley fault, likely refl ecting a diffuse extensional transfer zone in northern Fish Lake Valley that relays slip to the northeast across the Mina Defl ection and northward into the Walker Lane belt.

show abstract

Shallow Faulting and Folding in the Epicentral Area of the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake

Pratt

Shah

Counts

et al. 2022

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The moment magnitude (Mw) ∼7 earthquake that struck Charleston, South Carolina, on 31 August 1886 is the largest historical earthquake in the United States east of the Appalachian Mountains. The fault(s) that ruptured during this earthquake has never been conclusively identified, and conflicting fault models have been proposed. Here we interpret reprocessed seismic reflection profiles, reprocessed legacy aeromagnetic data, and newly collected ground penetrating radar (GPR) profiles to delineate faults deforming the Cretaceous and younger Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP) strata in the epicentral area of the 1886 earthquake. The data show evidence for faults folding or vertically displacing ACP strata, including apparent displacements of near-surface strata (upper ∼20 m). Aeromagnetic data show several northeast (NE)-trending lineaments, two of which correlate with faults and folds with vertical displacements as great as 55 m on the seismic reflection and radar profiles. ACP strata show only minor thickness changes across these structures, indicating that much of the displacement postdates the shallowest well-imaged ACP strata of Eocene age. Faults imaged on the seismic reflection profiles appear on GPR profiles to displace the erosional surface at the top of the upper Eocene to Oligocene Cooper Group, including where railroad tracks were bent during the 1886 earthquake. Some faults coincide with changes in river trends, bifurcations of river channels, and unusual river meanders that could be related to recent fault motion. In contrast to our interpreted NE fault trends, earthquake locations and some focal mechanisms in the modern seismic zone have been interpreted as defining a nearly north-striking, west-dipping zone of aftershocks from the 1886 earthquake. The relationship between the modern seismicity and the faults we image is therefore enigmatic. However, multiple faults in the area clearly have been active since the Eocene and deform strata in the upper 20 m, providing potential targets for field-based geologic investigations.

show abstract

Fault Slip Transfer in the Eastern California Shear Zone-Walker Lane Belt

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Dextral, normal, and sinistral faulting across the eastern California shear zone–Mina deflection transition, California-Nevada, USA

Dextral, normal, and sinistral faulting across the eastern California shear zone–Mina deflection transition, California-Nevada, USA

Rates of extension along the Fish Lake Valley fault and transtensional deformation in the Eastern California shear zone–Walker Lane belt

Shallow Faulting and Folding in the Epicentral Area of the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, Earthquake

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About