New Constraints on Deformation, Slip Rate, and Timing of the Most Recent Earthquake on the West Tahoe-Dollar Point Fault, Lake Tahoe Basin, California

Abstract

High-resolution seismic compressed high intensity Radar pulse (CHIRP) data and piston cores acquired in Fallen Leaf Lake (FLL) and Lake Tahoe provide new paleoseismic constraints on the West Tahoe-Dollar Point fault (WTDPF), the westernmost normal fault in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Paleoearthquake records along three sections of the WTDPF are investigated to determine the magnitude and recency of coseismic slip. CHIRP profiles image vertically offset and folded strata along the southern and central sections that record deformation associated with the most recent event (MRE) on the WTDPF. Three faults are imaged beneath FLL, and the maximum vertical offset observed across the primary trace of the WTDPF is ∼3:7 m. Coregistered piston cores in FLL recovered sediment and organic material above and below the MRE horizon.

Are great Cascadia earthquakes recorded in the sedimentary records from small forearc lakes?

“…The time span represented by these records is variable, but frequently surpasses 10 000 yr. Lacustrine turbidite palaeoseismology has been used to reconstruct earthquake chronologies around the world, including Switzerland (Schnellman et al, 2002;Arnaud et al, 2006;Strasser et al, 2006), Chile, (Arnaud et al, 2006;Moernaut et al, 2007;Bertrand et al, 2008;Charlet et al, 2008), Argentina (Waldmann et al, 2008), Venezuela (Carrillo et al, 2008), France (Chapron et al, 1999;Arnaud et al, 2002;Guyard et al, 2007;Beck, 2009), Kyrghyzstan (Bowman et al, 2004), Japan, (Shiki et al, 2000a), Russia (Nelson et al, 1995), Canada (Doig, 1986(Doig, , 1990(Doig, , 1991, New Zealand (Orpin et al, 2010;Howarth et al, 2012), California (Smoot et al, 2000;Seitz and Kent, 2005;Kent et al, 2005;Brothers et al, 2009), Arizona (Twitchell et al, 2005), as well as in the vicinity of the CSZ at Lake Washington, USA (Karlin et al, 2004;Abella, 1992, 1996). In favourable settings, reconstructions can reach 50 000 yr (late-Pleistocene Lake Lisan, palaeo-Dead Sea; Marco et al, 1996).…”

Duration and severity of Medieval drought in the Lake Tahoe Basin

“…Runoff from the Desolation Wilderness enters the lake via Glen Alpine Creek. The lake fills a narrow glacial valley bounded on both the east and west sides by >300-m-high-lateral moraines and separated from Lake Tahoe by several Tioga-aged recessional and terminal moraines (Saucedo et al, 2005;Brothers et al, 2009). The moraines incised by Taylor Creek, expose moderate-to-poorly sorted sand, gravel, and cobbles with occasional well-stratified silty layers (McCaughey, 2005).…”

The unusual temporal and spatial slip history of the Wassuk Range normal fault, western Nevada (USA): Implications for seismic hazard and Walker Lane deformation

“…The long-term rate of vertical displacement along the Wassuk fault is comparable to the most active fault systems in the western Basin and Range, including faults along the western margin of the Lake Tahoe basin (0.85 -1.7 mm/yr; Fig. 1; Kent et al, 2005;Brothers et al, 2009;Dingler et al, 2009;Rood et al, 2011) and the Genoa fault zone along the east flank of the Carson Range (2 -3 mm/yr; Fig. 1; Ramelli et al, 1999).…”