Mapped offset on the right-lateral Kern Canyon fault, southern Sierra Nevada, California

Abstract

The north-trending Kern Canyon fault, the longest fault within the southern Sierra Nevada, has been mapped from lat 36°00′N to its northern end near lat 36°40′N. The fault cuts and offsets granitic plutons as young as 80 m.y., but despite the fact that many recent earthquake foci plot close to the fault, it does not appear to offset an overlying 3.5-m.y.-old basalt flow. Seven granitic plutons are clearly offset by the fault in a right-lateral sense. In the area mapped, offset of plutonic contacts is 6.5 to 13 km and increases southward by 0.2 km/km.