A 25,000-year record of earthquakes on the Owens Valley fault near Lone Pine, California: Implications for recurrence intervals, slip rates, and segmentation models

Abstract

Research Article| July 01, 2007 A 25,000-year record of earthquakes on the Owens Valley fault near Lone Pine, California: Implications for recurrence intervals, slip rates, and segmentation models Steven N. Bacon; Steven N. Bacon 1Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Silvio K. Pezzopane Silvio K. Pezzopane 1Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Steven N. Bacon 1Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521, USA Silvio K. Pezzopane 1Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 30 Jul 2005 Revision Received: 29 Dec 2006 Accepted: 24 Jan 2007 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2007) 119 (7-8): 823–847. https://doi.org/10.1130/B25879.1 Article history Received: 30 Jul 2005 Revision Received: 29 Dec 2006 Accepted: 24 Jan 2007 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Steven N. Bacon, Silvio K. Pezzopane; A 25,000-year record of earthquakes on the Owens Valley fault near Lone Pine, California: Implications for recurrence intervals, slip rates, and segmentation models. GSA Bulletin 2007;; 119 (7-8): 823–847. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B25879.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Seven trenches in eastern California across the Owens Valley fault near Lone Pine expose two episodes of faulting since early Holocene time in the form of ∼1 m throw in lacustrine beds with liquefaction that were buried and then faulted again ∼1 m by the M 7.5 to 7.75 A.D. 1872 Owens Valley earthquake. Geomorphic maps, applications of sequence stratigraphy, and analyses of radiocarbon from charcoal and tufa deposits indicate that the paleoearthquake, the penultimate event here, occurred between 10,200 ± 200 and 8800 ± 200 cal yr B.P. The cumulative vertical displacement from these last two earthquakes in three trenches averages 2.4 ± 0.3 m (2σ), and the penultimate event has slightly larger displacements. A synthesis of available data indicates that the antepenultimate event was probably as large and occurred between ca. 24,000 and 14,000 cal yr B.P. (2σ). Thus, the two interseismic intervals between the last three surface-faulting earthquakes on the southern Owens Valley fault are each ∼10,000 yr. This ∼25,000-year record indicates that the “two-event” normal-oblique slip rate on the Owens Valley fault near Lone Pine is 1.0 ± 0.5 m/k.y. This result is similar to that of several previous geological studies here, yet it is still slower than slip rates on the northern Owens Valley fault and several factors slower than contemporary geodetic measurements. This study attempts to account for different dating methods and interpretational uncertainties, to acknowledge how little is known about the slip history of the Owens Valley fault and adjacent faults, and to consider the role of segmentation, as well as splay and distributed faulting, in comparisons of displacement data among different sites along the entire ∼100 ± 10 km length of the Owens Valley fault. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.