Quaternary slip rates on the White Mountains fault zone, eastern California: Implications for comparing geologic to geodetic slip rates across the Walker Lane

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Zachery M. Lifton ◽  
Jeffrey Lee ◽  
Kurt L. Frankel ◽  
Andrew V. Newman ◽  
Jeffrey M. Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
North American Plate ◽  
Fault System ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Walker Lane ◽  
Lateral Displacements ◽  
Exposure Ages

Abstract The White Mountains fault zone in eastern California is a major fault system that accommodates right-lateral shear across the southern Walker Lane. We combined field geomorphic mapping and interpretation of high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation models with 10Be cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages to calculate new late Pleistocene and Holocene right-lateral slip rates on the White Mountains fault zone. Alluvial fans were found to have ages of 46.6 + 11.0/–10.0 ka and 7.3 + 4.2/–4.5 ka, with right-lateral displacements of 65 ± 13 m and 14 ± 5 m, respectively, yielding a minimum average slip rate of 1.4 ± 0.3 mm/yr. These new slip rates help to resolve the kinematics of fault slip across this part of the complex Pacific–North American plate boundary. Our results suggest that late Pleistocene slip rates on the White Mountains fault zone were significantly faster than previously reported. These results also help to reconcile a portion of the observed discrepancy between modern geodetic strain rates and known late Pleistocene slip rates in the southern Walker Lane. The total middle to late Pleistocene slip rate from the southern Walker Lane near 37.5°N was 7.9 + 1.3/–0.6 mm/yr, ∼75% of the observed modern geodetic rate.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Quaternary slip rates on the White Mountains fault zone, eastern California: Implications for comparing geologic to geodetic slip rates across the Walker Lane

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachery M. Lifton
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Depth Profile ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Walker Lane ◽  
Profile Modeling

Field photographs, stratigraphic columns, displacement modeling results, depth profile modeling results, and slip rate modeling results.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Quaternary slip rates on the White Mountains fault zone, eastern California: Implications for comparing geologic to geodetic slip rates across the Walker Lane

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachery M. Lifton
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Depth Profile ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Walker Lane ◽  
Profile Modeling

Field photographs, stratigraphic columns, displacement modeling results, depth profile modeling results, and slip rate modeling results.

scholarly journals Late Quaternary slip rates for faults of the central Walker Lane (Nevada, USA): Spatiotemporal strain release in a strike-slip fault system

Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1460-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Angster ◽  
Steven G. Wesnousky ◽  
Paula M. Figueiredo ◽  
Lewis A. Owen ◽  
Sarah J. Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Strike Slip Fault ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Slip Distribution ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Walker Lane ◽  
Fault Systems ◽  
Late Pleistocene To Holocene

Abstract The Walker Lane is a broad shear zone that accommodates a significant portion of North American–Pacific plate relative transform motion through a complex of fault systems and block rotations. Analysis of digital elevation models, constructed from both lidar data and structure-from-motion modeling of unmanned aerial vehicle photography, in conjunction with 10Be and 36Cl cosmogenic and optically stimulated luminescence dating define new Late Pleistocene to Holocene minimum strike-slip rates for the Benton Springs (1.5 ± 0.2 mm/yr), Petrified Springs (0.7 ± 0.1 mm/yr), Gumdrop Hills (0.9 +0.3/−0.2 mm/yr), and Indian Head (0.8 ± 0.1 mm/yr) faults of the central Walker Lane (Nevada, USA). Regional mapping of the fault traces within Quaternary deposits further show that the Indian Head and southern Benton Springs faults have had multiple Holocene ruptures, with inferred coseismic displacements of ∼3 m, while absence of displaced Holocene deposits along the Agai Pah, Gumdrop Hills, northern Benton Springs, and Petrified Springs faults suggest they have not. Combining these observations and comparing them with geodetic estimates of deformation across the central Walker Lane, indicates that at least one-third of the ∼8 mm/yr geodetic deformation budget has been focused across strike-slip faults, accommodated by only two of the five faults discussed here, during the Holocene, and possibly half from all the strike-slip faults during the Late Pleistocene. These results indicate secular variations of slip distribution and irregular recurrence intervals amongst the system of strike-slip faults. This makes the geodetic assessment of fault slip rates and return times of earthquakes on closely spaced strike-slip fault systems challenging. Moreover, it highlights the importance of understanding temporal variations of slip distribution within fault systems when comparing geologic and geodetic rates. Finally, the study provides examples of the importance and value in using observations of soil development in assessing the veracity of surface exposure ages determined with terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide analysis.

Recent and active deformation in the North Evia domain, a diffuse plate boundary between Eurasia and Aegean plates in the Western termination of the North Anatolian Fault. 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Caroir ◽  
Frank Chanier ◽  
Virginie Gaullier ◽  
Julien Bailleul ◽  
Agnès Maillard-Lenoir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Fault Zones ◽  
North Anatolian Fault ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Eurasian Plate ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
The North ◽  
South West ◽  
North Aegean

<p>The Anatolia-Aegean microplate is currently extruding toward the South and the South-West. This extrusion is classically attributed to the southward retreat of the Aegean subduction zone together with the northward displacement of the Arabian plate. The displacement of Aegean-Anatolian block relative to Eurasia is accommodated by dextral motion along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), with current slip rates of about 20 mm/yr. The NAF is propagating westward within the North Aegean domain where it gets separated into two main branches, one of them bordering the North Aegean Trough (NAT). This particular context is responsible for dextral and normal stress regimes between the Aegean plate and the Eurasian plate. South-West of the NAT, there is no identified major faults in the continuity of the NAF major branch and the plate boundary deformation is apparently distributed within a wide domain. This area is characterised by slip rates of 20 to 25 mm/yr relative to Eurasian plate but also by clockwise rotation of about 10° since ca 4 Myr. It constitutes a major extensional area involving three large rift basins: the Corinth Gulf, the Almiros Basin and the Sperchios-North Evia Gulf. The latter develops in the axis of the western termination of the NAT, and is therefore a key area to understand the present-day dynamics and the evolution of deformation within this diffuse plate boundary area.</p><p>Our study is mainly based on new structural data from field analysis and from very high resolution seismic reflexion profiles (Sparker 50-300 Joules) acquired during the WATER survey in July-August 2017 onboard the R/V “Téthys II”, but also on existing data on recent to active tectonics (i.e. earthquakes distribution, focal mechanisms, GPS data, etc.). The results from our new marine data emphasize the structural organisation and the evolution of the deformation within the North Evia region, SW of the NAT.</p><p>The combination of our structural analysis (offshore and onshore data) with available data on active/recent deformation led us to define several structural domains within the North Evia region, at the western termination of the North Anatolian Fault. The North Evia Gulf shows four main fault zones, among them the Central Basin Fault Zone (CBFZ) which is obliquely cross-cutting the rift basin and represents the continuity of the onshore Kamena Vourla - Arkitsa Fault System (KVAFS). Other major fault zones, such as the Aedipsos Politika Fault System (APFS) and the Melouna Fault Zone (MFZ) played an important role in the rift initiation but evolved recently with a left-lateral strike-slip motion. Moreover, our seismic dataset allowed to identify several faults in the Skopelos Basin including a large NW-dipping fault which affects the bathymetry and shows an important total vertical offset (>300m). Finally, we propose an update of the deformation pattern in the North Evia region including two lineaments with dextral motion that extend southwestward the North Anatolian Fault system into the Oreoi Channel and the Skopelos Basin. Moreover, the North Evia Gulf domain is dominated by active N-S extension and sinistral reactivation of former large normal faults.</p>

scholarly journals Holocene Earthquakes and Late Pleistocene Slip-Rate Estimates on the Wassuk Range Fault Zone, Nevada

2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 1884-1891 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Bormann ◽  
B. E. Surpless ◽  
M. W. Caffee ◽  
S. G. Wesnousky
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Wassuk Range

scholarly journals Segmentation of the Wassuk Range normal fault system, Nevada (USA): Implications for earthquake rupture and Walker Lane dynamics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Surpless ◽  
Sarah Thorne
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Walker Lane ◽  
Differential Uplift ◽  
Wassuk Range

Normal faults are commonly segmented along strike, with segments that localize strain and influence propagation of slip during earthquakes. Although the geometry of segments can be constrained by fault mapping, it is challenging to determine seismically relevant segments along a fault zone. Because slip histories, geometries, and strengths of linkages between normal fault segments fundamentally control the propagation of rupture during earthquakes, and differences in segment slip rates result in differential uplift of adjacent footwalls, we used along-strike changes in footwall morphology to detect fault segments and the relative strength of the mechanical links between them. We applied a new geomorphic analysis protocol to the Wassuk Range fault, Nevada, within the actively deforming Walker Lane. The protocol examines characteristics of footwall morphology, including range-crest continuity, bedrock-channel long profiles, catchment area variability, and footwall relief, to detect changes in strike-parallel footwall characteristics. Results revealed six domains with significant differences in morphology that we used to identify seismically relevant fault segments and segment boundaries. We integrated our results with previous studies to determine relative strength of links between the six segments, informing seismic hazard assessment. When combined with recent geodetic studies, our results have implications for the future evolution of the Walker Lane, suggesting changes in the accommodation of strain across the region. Our analysis demonstrates the power of this method to efficiently detect along-strike changes in footwall morphology related to fault behavior, permitting future researchers to perform reconnaissance assessment of normal fault segmentation worldwide.

scholarly journals Active faults sources for the Pátzcuaro–Acambay fault system (Mexico): fractal analysis of slip rates and magnitudes <i>M</i><sub>w</sub> estimated from fault length

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3121-3135
Author(s):  
Avith Mendoza-Ponce ◽  
Angel Figueroa-Soto ◽  
Diana Soria-Caballero ◽  
Víctor Hugo Garduño-Monroy
Keyword(s):  
Time Domain ◽  
Fractal Analysis ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Spatial Domain ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Oblique Convergence ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Intrinsic Definition

Abstract. The Pátzcuaro–Acambay fault system (PAFS), located in the central part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB), is delimited by an active transtensive deformation area associated with the oblique subduction zone between the Cocos and North American plates, with a convergence speed of 55 mm yr−1 at the latitude of the state of Michoacán, Mexico. Part of the oblique convergence is transferred to this fault system, where the slip rates range from 0.009 to 2.78 mm yr−1. This has caused historic earthquakes in Central Mexico, such as the Acambay quake (Ms=6.9) on 19 November 1912 with surface rupture, and another in Maravatío in 1979 with Ms=5.6. Also, paleoseismic analyses are showing Quaternary movements in some faults, with moderate to large magnitudes. Notably, this zone is seismically active, but lacks a dense local seismic network, and more importantly, its neotectonic movements have received very little attention. The present research encompasses three investigations carried out in the PAFS. First, the estimation of the maximum possible earthquake magnitudes, based on 316 fault lengths mapped on a 15 m digital elevation model, by means of three empirical relationships. In addition, the Hurst exponent Hw and its persistence, estimated for magnitudes Mw (spatial domain) and for 32 slip-rate data (time domain) by the wavelet variance analysis. Finally, the validity of the intrinsic definition of active fault proposed here. The average results for the estimation of the maximum and minimum magnitudes expected for this fault population are 5.5≤Mw≤7. Also, supported by the results of H at the spatial domain, this paper strongly suggests that the PAFS is classified in three different zones (western PAFS, central PAFS, and eastern PAFS) in terms of their roughness (Hw=0.7,Hw=0.5,Hw=0.8 respectively), showing different dynamics in seismotectonic activity and; the time domain, with a strong persistence Hw=0.949, suggests that the periodicities of slip rates are close in time (process with memory). The fractal capacity dimension (Db) is also estimated for the slip-rate series using the box-counting method. Inverse correlation between Db and low slip-rate concentration was observed. The resulting Db=1.86 is related to a lesser concentration of low slip-rates in the PAFS, suggesting that larger faults accommodate the strain more efficiently (length ≥3 km). Thus, in terms of fractal analysis, we can conclude that these 316 faults are seismically active, because they fulfill the intrinsic definition of active faults for the PAFS.

Fragmentation of the Sinai Plate indicated by spatial variation in present-day slip rate along the Dead Sea Fault System

2020 ◽  
Vol 221 (3) ◽  
pp. 1913-1940
Author(s):  
Francisco Gomez ◽  
William J Cochran ◽  
Rayan Yassminh ◽  
Rani Jaafar ◽  
Robert Reilinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Dead Sea Fault System ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Gps Velocities ◽  
Splay Faults

SUMMARY A comprehensive GPS velocity field along the Dead Sea Fault System (DSFS) provides new constraints on along-strike variations of near-transform crustal deformation along this plate boundary, and internal deformation of the Sinai and Arabian plates. In general, geodetically derived slip rates decrease northwards along the transform (5.0 ± 0.2 to 2.2 ± 0.5 mm yr−1) and are consistent with geological slip rates averaged over longer time periods. Localized reductions in slip rate occur where the Sinai Plate is in ∼N–S extension. Extension is confined to the Sinai side of the fault and is associated with prominent changes in transform geometry, and with NW–SE striking, left-lateral splay faults, including the Carmel Fault in Israel and the Roum Fault in Lebanon. The asymmetry of the extensional velocity gradients about the transform reflects active fragmentation of the Sinai Plate along the continental margin. Additionally, elastic block modelling of GPS velocities requires an additional structure off-shore the northern DSF segment, which may correspond with a fault located along the continental margin, suggested by prior geophysical studies.

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