Normal fault corrugation: implications for growth and seismicity of active normal faults

Abstract

Large normal faults are corrugated. Corrugations appear to form from overlapping or en échelon fault arrays by two breakthrough mechanisms: lateral propagation of curved fault-tips and linkage by connecting faults. Both mechanisms include localized fault-parallel extension and eventual abandonment of relay ramps. These breakthrough mechanisms produce distinctive hanging wall and footwall geometries indicative of fault system evolution. From such geometries, we can estimate the positions of tilted relay ramps or ramp segments and ramp internal deformation in incompletely exposed or poorly imaged fault systems. We examine the evolution of normal fault corrugations at Fish Slough (California), Yucca Mountain (Nevada), and Pleasant Valley (Nevada), in the Basin and Range province. We discuss how evolution of the Pleasant Valley and Yucca Mountain systems relates to seismicity. For example, the 1915 Pleasant Valley earthquake produced four en échelon ruptures that appeared as overlapping segments of a single immature fault at depth. At Yucca Mountain, we argue that an en échelon array, which includes the Solitario Canyon and Iron Ridge faults, should be considered a single source, such that western Yucca Mountain could experience up to a M w 6.9 earthquake compared to M w 6.6 estimates for the largest individual segment.