Late Quaternary deformation, Saddle Mountains anticline, south-central Washington

Abstract

Grabens and beheaded streams above a subjacent thrust fault illuminate late Quaternary deformation on the north limb of the Saddle Mountains anticline, Yakima fold belt, Washington. Geologic mapping and trenches excavated across a scarp on the north flank of a 13-km-long graben and a ± 5-m-high scarp north of the graben, confirm that deformation is related to coseismic slip on the underlying Saddle Mountains fault. Graben development began ca. 100 ka and continued into the Holocene. At least 6.5 m of vertical displacement in a ca. 20–40 ka paleosol yields minimum normal fault slip rates of 0.16–0.33 mm/yr. Assuming that normal slip in the hanging wall above the daylighting fault tip is related to primary reverse slip on the fault, resolution of throw on the 30°-dipping Saddle Mountains fault yields minimum slip of 13 m and minimum slip rates of 0.33–0.65 mm/yr, 2.3–9.4 times greater than slip rates used in a recent seismic hazard analysis for the Hanford Reservation.