Holocene slip rates along the Owens Valley fault, California: Implications for the recent evolution of the Eastern California Shear Zone

Geology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Lee ◽  
Joel Spencer ◽  
Lewis Owen
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Wetmore ◽  
◽  
Lewis A. Owen ◽  
Timothy H. Dixon ◽  
Surui Xie ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lee ◽  
et al.

Figure 2. Layer A. Shaded relief map showing major Quaternary faults in central Walker Lane, Mina deflection, northern Eastern California shear zone, and western Basin and Range Province. Heavy black arrow in the northwest corner of the map shows the present-day azimuth of motion of the Sierra Nevada block with respect to the central Great Basin (SN-CBG) (Bennett et al., 2003). Fault abbreviations: APHF—Agai Pah Hills fault; BSF—Benton Spring fault; CF—Coaldale fault; CVF—Clayton Valley fault; EIFZ—Eastern Inyo fault zone; EPF—Emigrant Peak fault; FLVFCDV—Fish Lake Valley–Furnace Creek–Death Valley fault zone; GHF—Gumdrop Hills fault; HLF—Honey Lake fault; HMF—Hunter Mountain fault; IHF—Indian Head fault; MVF—Mohawk Valley fault; OF—Olinghouse fault; OVF—Owens Valley fault; PLF—Pyramid Lake fault; PSF—Petrified Spring fault; PVF—Panamint Valley fault; QVF—Queen Valley fault; SLF—Stateline fault; SNFF—Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone; WMF—White Mountains fault zone; WRF—Wassuk Range fault; WSF—Warm Springs fault. Layer B. Geographic names. Layer C. Tectonic domains. Semi-transparent brown shows the Walker Lane–northern Eastern California shear zone. Layer D. Yellow dashed polygon shows the location of the Gabbs Valley–Gillis Ranges (GVGR) field area (see Fig. 3). Layer E. Yellow stars show the locations of documented middle Miocene fault-slip initiation age. Numbers in the stars are tied to numbers in Table 3. Layer F. Thin blue arrows show GPS velocities relative to stable North America (ITRFNA2005 reference frame) from Lifton et al. (2013), and heavy multi-colored arrows show GPS velocities relative to stable North America (NA12 North America reference frame) from Bormann et al. (2016). GPS velocity scales are in the upper right corner of the map. Maps, labels, and data sets for this figure are organized in a series of layers that may be viewed separately or in combination using the capabilities of the Acrobat (PDF) layering function (click “Layers” icon along vertical bar on left side of window for display of available layers; turn layers on or off by clicking the box that encompasses the layer label located within the gray box in the lower left corner of the map).


2010 ◽  
Vol 115 (B11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua C. Spinler ◽  
Richard A. Bennett ◽  
Megan L. Anderson ◽  
Sally F. McGill ◽  
Sigrún Hreinsdóttir ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lee ◽  
et al.

Figure 2. Layer A. Shaded relief map showing major Quaternary faults in central Walker Lane, Mina deflection, northern Eastern California shear zone, and western Basin and Range Province. Heavy black arrow in the northwest corner of the map shows the present-day azimuth of motion of the Sierra Nevada block with respect to the central Great Basin (SN-CBG) (Bennett et al., 2003). Fault abbreviations: APHF—Agai Pah Hills fault; BSF—Benton Spring fault; CF—Coaldale fault; CVF—Clayton Valley fault; EIFZ—Eastern Inyo fault zone; EPF—Emigrant Peak fault; FLVFCDV—Fish Lake Valley–Furnace Creek–Death Valley fault zone; GHF—Gumdrop Hills fault; HLF—Honey Lake fault; HMF—Hunter Mountain fault; IHF—Indian Head fault; MVF—Mohawk Valley fault; OF—Olinghouse fault; OVF—Owens Valley fault; PLF—Pyramid Lake fault; PSF—Petrified Spring fault; PVF—Panamint Valley fault; QVF—Queen Valley fault; SLF—Stateline fault; SNFF—Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone; WMF—White Mountains fault zone; WRF—Wassuk Range fault; WSF—Warm Springs fault. Layer B. Geographic names. Layer C. Tectonic domains. Semi-transparent brown shows the Walker Lane–northern Eastern California shear zone. Layer D. Yellow dashed polygon shows the location of the Gabbs Valley–Gillis Ranges (GVGR) field area (see Fig. 3). Layer E. Yellow stars show the locations of documented middle Miocene fault-slip initiation age. Numbers in the stars are tied to numbers in Table 3. Layer F. Thin blue arrows show GPS velocities relative to stable North America (ITRFNA2005 reference frame) from Lifton et al. (2013), and heavy multi-colored arrows show GPS velocities relative to stable North America (NA12 North America reference frame) from Bormann et al. (2016). GPS velocity scales are in the upper right corner of the map. Maps, labels, and data sets for this figure are organized in a series of layers that may be viewed separately or in combination using the capabilities of the Acrobat (PDF) layering function (click “Layers” icon along vertical bar on left side of window for display of available layers; turn layers on or off by clicking the box that encompasses the layer label located within the gray box in the lower left corner of the map).


Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1206-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin DeLano ◽  
Jeffrey Lee ◽  
Rachelle Roper ◽  
Andrew Calvert

Abstract 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.


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