The 1988 and 1990 upland earthquakes: Left‐lateral faulting adjacent to the central transverse ranges

Abstract

Two earthquakes (ML=4.6 and ML=5.2) occurred at almost the same location in Upland, southern California, in June 1988 and February 1990 and had similar strike‐slip focal mechanisms with left‐lateral motion on a northeast striking plane. The focal mechanisms and aftershock locations showed that the causative fault was the San Jose fault, an 18‐km‐long concealed fault that splays west‐southwest from the frontal fault of the central Transverse Ranges. Left‐lateral strike‐slip faults adjacent to the frontal faults may play an important role in the deformation of the Transverse Ranges and the Los Angeles basin as suggested by these Upland earthquakes, the left‐lateral strike‐slip 1988 ( ML=4.9) Pasadena earthquake on the Raymond fault, 30 km to the west of Upland, and scattered background seismicity along other active left‐lateral faults. These faults may transfer slip away from part of the frontal fault toward the south. Alternatively, these faults could represent secondary faulting related to the termination of the northwest striking right‐lateral strike‐slip faults to the south of the range front. The 1988 and 1990 Upland earthquakes ruptured abutting or possibly overlapping segments of the San Jose fault. The edges of the overlapping aftershock zones, which are sharply defined, together with background seismicity, outline a 14‐km‐long aseismic segment of the San Jose fault. The 1988 mainshock originated at 9.5 km depth and caused aftershocks between 5 and 12 km. In contrast, the 1990 mainshock focus occurred at the top of its aftershock zone, at 5 km, and caused aftershocks down to 13 km depth. These deep aftershocks tapered off within 2 weeks. The rate of occurrence of aftershocks in magnitude‐time space was the same for both sequences. The state of stress reflected in the focal mechanisms of the aftershocks is identical to that determined from background activity and did not change with time during the aftershock sequence. The constant stress state suggests that the 1988 and 1990 events did not completely release all the stored slip on that segment of the fault. The presence of 14 km of unbroken fault, the abrupt temporal termination of deep aftershocks, and the constant stress state all suggest that a future moderate‐sized earthquake (ML=6.0–6.5) on the San Jose fault is possible with a rupture length of at least 14 km and possibly 18 km.