DETAIL GRAVITY PROFILE ACROSS SAN ANDREAS FAULT ZONE

A gravity profile was obtained from closely spaced readings along a traverse approximately nine miles in length across the San Andreas fault zone immediately south of Palmdale, California in the western Mojave Desert. Corrected gravity values show a slight but distinctive minimum associated with the fault zone which may be attributed to the reduced density of the shattered rock masses in the fault zone. The existence of this minimum suggests that major fault zones may be traced across terrain, on which surface expression of the fault does not exist, by successive profiles across the suspected position of the fault zone.