Walker Lane Research Articles

GPS Imaging of vertical land motion in California and Nevada: Implications for Sierra Nevada uplift.

We introduce Global Positioning System (GPS) Imaging, a new technique for robust estimation of the vertical velocity field of the Earth's surface, and apply it to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in the western United States. Starting with vertical position time series from Global Positioning System (GPS) stations, we first estimate vertical velocities using the MIDAS robust trend estimator, which is insensitive to undocumented steps, outliers, seasonality, and heteroscedasticity. Using the Delaunay triangulation of station locations, we then apply a weighted median spatial filter to remove velocity outliers and enhance signals common to multiple stations. Finally, we interpolate the data using weighted median estimation on a grid. The resulting velocity field is temporally and spatially robust and edges in the field remain sharp. Results from data spanning 5–20 years show that the Sierra Nevada is the most rapid and extensive uplift feature in the western United States, rising up to 2 mm/yr along most of the range. The uplift is juxtaposed against domains of subsidence attributable to groundwater withdrawal in California's Central Valley. The uplift boundary is consistently stationary, although uplift is faster over the 2011–2016 period of drought. Uplift patterns are consistent with groundwater extraction and concomitant elastic bedrock uplift, plus slower background tectonic uplift. A discontinuity in the velocity field across the southeastern edge of the Sierra Nevada reveals a contrast in lithospheric strength, suggesting a relationship between late Cenozoic uplift of the southern Sierra Nevada and evolution of the southern Walker Lane.

Persistent slip rate discrepancies in the eastern California (USA) shear zone

Abstract Understanding fault slip rates in the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) using GPS geodesy is complicated by potentially overlapping strain signals due to many sub-parallel strike-slip faults and by inconsistencies with geologic slip rates. The role of fault system geometry in describing ECSZ deformation may be investigated with total variation regularization, which algorithmically determines a best-fitting geometry from an initial model with numerous faults, constrained by a western United States GPS velocity field. The initial dense model (1) enables construction of the first geodetically constrained block model to include all ECSZ faults with geologic slip rates, allowing direct geologic-geodetic slip rate comparisons, and (2) permits fault system geometries with many active faults that are analogous to distributed interseismic deformation. Beginning with 58 ECSZ blocks, a model containing 10 ECSZ blocks is most consistent with geologic slip rates, reproducing five of 11 within their reported uncertainties. The model fits GPS observations with a mean residual velocity of 1.5 mm/yr. Persistent geologic-geodetic slip rate discrepancies occur on the Calico and Garlock faults, on which we estimate slip rates of 7.6 mm/yr and <2 mm/yr, respectively, indicating that inconsistencies between geology and geodesy may be concentrated on or near these faults and are not due to pervasive distributed deformation in the region. Discrepancies may in part be due to postseismic relaxation following the A.D. 1992 Mw 7.3 Landers and 1999 Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquakes. Otherwise, resolving geologic-geodetic discrepancies would require as much as 11.4 mm/yr of off-fault deformation within <10 km of the main ECSZ faults, with ∼5 mm/yr concentrated near the Calico fault.

Tectonic Geomorphology and Volcano-Tectonic Interaction in the Eastern Boundary of the Southern Cascades (Hat Creek Graben Region), California, USA

The eastern boundary of the Southern Cascades (Hat Creek Graben region), California, USA, is an extensively faulted volcanic corridor between the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau. The east-west extending region is in the transition zone between the convergence and subduction of the Gorda Plate underneath the North American Plate; north-south shortening within the Klamath Mountain region; and transcurrent movement in the Walker Lane. We describe the geomorphological and tectonic features, their alignment and distribution, in order to understand the tectonic geomorphology and volcano-tectonic relationships. One outcome of the work is a more refined morpho-structural description that will affect future hazard assessment in the area. A database of volcanic centers and structures was created from interpretations of topographic models generated from satellite images. Volcanic centers in the region were classified by morphological type into cones, sub-cones, shields and massifs. A second classification by height separated the bigger and smaller edifices and revealed an evolutionary trend. Poisson Nearest Neighbor analysis shows that bigger volcanoes are spatially dispersed while smaller ones are clustered. Using volcano centroid locations, about 90 lineaments consisting of at least three centers within 6km of one another were found, revealing that preferential north-northwest directed pathways control the transport of magma from the source to the surface, consistent with the strikes of the major fault systems. Most of the volcano crater openings are perpendicular to the maximum horizontal stress, expected for extensional environments with dominant normal regional faults. These results imply that the extension of the Hat Creek Graben region and impingement of the Walker Lane is accommodated mostly by extensional faults and partly by the intrusions that formed the volcanoes. Early in the history of a volcano or volcano cluster, melt produced at depth in the region propagates to the surface using the easiest and most efficient pathway, mostly controlled by these pre-existing extensional faults and near-surface stress fields. Continued volcano growth is less closely dependent on the regional structures, suggesting control by the development of the volcanic edifice itself.

The Eastern California Shear Zone as the northward extension of the southern San Andreas Fault

AbstractCluster analysis offers an agnostic way to organize and explore features of the current GPS velocity field without reference to geologic information or physical models using information only contained in the velocity field itself. We have used cluster analysis of the Southern California Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity field to determine the partitioning of Pacific‐North America relative motion onto major regional faults. Our results indicate the large‐scale kinematics of the region is best described with two boundaries of high velocity gradient, one centered on the Coachella section of the San Andreas Fault and the Eastern California Shear Zone and the other defined by the San Jacinto Fault south of Cajon Pass and the San Andreas Fault farther north. The ~120 km long strand of the San Andreas between Cajon Pass and Coachella Valley (often termed the San Bernardino and San Gorgonio sections) is thus currently of secondary importance and carries lesser amounts of slip over most or all of its length. We show these first order results are present in maps of the smoothed GPS velocity field itself. They are also generally consistent with currently available, loosely bounded geologic and geodetic fault slip rate estimates that alone do not provide useful constraints on the large‐scale partitioning we show here. Our analysis does not preclude the existence of smaller blocks and more block boundaries in Southern California. However, attempts to identify smaller blocks along and adjacent to the San Gorgonio section were not successful.

Implications for the structure of the Hat Creek fault and transfer of right-lateral shear from the Walker Lane north of Lassen Peak, northern California, from gravity and magnetic data

Interpretation of magnetic and new gravity data provides constraints on the geometry of the Hat Creek fault, the amount of right-lateral offset in the area between Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak (northern California, USA), and confirmation of the influence of preexisting structure on Quaternary faulting. Neogene volcanic rocks coincide with short-wavelength magnetic anomalies of both normal and reversed polarity, whereas a markedly smoother magnetic field occurs over the Klamath Mountains and Paleogene cover there. Although the magnetic field over the Neogene volcanic rocks is complex, the Hat Creek fault, which is one of the most prominent normal faults in the region and forms the eastern margin of the Hat Creek Valley, is marked by the eastern edge of a north-trending magnetic and gravity high 20–30 km long. Modeling of these anomalies indicates that the fault is a steeply dipping (∼75°–85°) structure. The spatial relationship of the fault as modeled by the potential-field data, the youngest strand of the fault, and relocated seismicity suggest that deformation continues to step westward across the valley, consistent with a component of right-lateral slip in an extensional environment. Filtered aeromagnetic data highlight a concealed magnetic body of Mesozoic or older age north of Hat Creek Valley. The body’s northwest margin strikes northeast and is linear over a distance of ∼40 km. Within the resolution of the aeromagnetic data (1–2 km), we discern no right-lateral offset of this body. Furthermore, Quaternary faults change strike or appear to end, as if to avoid this concealed magnetic body and to pass along its southeast edge, suggesting that preexisting crustal structure influenced younger faulting, as previously proposed based on gravity data.

A Fault‐Based Model for Crustal Deformation, Fault Slip Rates, and Off‐Fault Strain Rate in California

We invert Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity data to estimate fault slip rates in California using a fault‐based crustal deformation model with geologic constraints. The model assumes buried elastic dislocations across the region using Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast Version 3 (UCERF3) fault geometries. New GPS velocity and geologic slip‐rate data were compiled by the UCERF3 deformation working group. The result of least‐squares inversion shows that the San Andreas fault slips at 19–22 mm/yr along Santa Cruz to the North Coast, 25–28 mm/yr along the central California creeping segment to the Carrizo Plain, 20–22 mm/yr along the Mojave, and 20–24 mm/yr along the Coachella to the Imperial Valley. Modeled slip rates are 7–16 mm/yr lower than the preferred geologic rates from the central California creeping section to the San Bernardino North section. For the Bartlett Springs section, fault slip rates of 7–9 mm/yr fall within the geologic bounds but are twice the preferred geologic rates. For the central and eastern Garlock, inverted slip rates of 7.5 and 4.9 mm/yr, respectively, match closely with the geologic rates. For the western Garlock, however, our result suggests a low slip rate of 1.7 mm/yr. Along the eastern California shear zone and southern Walker Lane, our model shows a cumulative slip rate of 6.2–6.9 mm/yr across its east–west transects, which is ∼1 mm/yr increase of the geologic estimates. For the off‐coast faults of central California, from Hosgri to San Gregorio, fault slips are modeled at 1–5 mm/yr, similar to the lower geologic bounds. For the off‐fault deformation, the total moment rate amounts to 0.88×1019 N·m/yr, with fast straining regions found around the Mendocino triple junction, Transverse Ranges and Garlock fault zones, Landers and Brawley seismic zones, and farther south. The overall California moment rate is 2.76×1019 N·m/yr, which is a 16% increase compared with the UCERF2 model. Online Material: Table of geological slip rates.

Accommodation of missing shear strain in the Central Walker Lane, western North America: Constraints from dense GPS measurements

We present 264 new interseismic GPS velocities from the Mobile Array of GPS for Nevada Transtension (MAGNET) and continuous GPS networks that measure Pacific–North American plate boundary deformation in the Central Walker Lane. Relative to a North America-fixed reference frame, northwestward velocities increase smoothly from ∼4 mm/yr in the Basin and Range province to 12.2 mm/yr in the central Sierra Nevada resulting in a Central Walker Lane deformation budget of ∼8 mm/yr. We use an elastic block model to estimate fault slip and block rotation rates and patterns of deformation from the GPS velocities. Right-lateral shear is distributed throughout the Central Walker Lane with strike-slip rates generally <1.5 mm/yr predicted by the block model, but extension rates are highest near north-striking normal faults found along the Sierra Nevada frontal fault system and in a left-stepping, en-echelon series of asymmetric basins that extend from Walker Lake to Lake Tahoe. Neotectonic studies in the western Central Walker Lane find little evidence of strike-slip or oblique faulting in the asymmetric basins, prompting the suggestion that dextral deformation in this region is accommodated through clockwise block rotations. We test this hypothesis and show that a model relying solely on the combination of clockwise block rotations and normal faulting to accommodate dextral transtensional strain accumulation systematically misfits the GPS data in comparison with our preferred model. This suggests that some component of oblique or partitioned right-lateral fault slip is needed to accommodate shear in the asymmetric basins of the western Central Walker Lane. Present-day clockwise vertical axis rotation rates in the Bodie Hills, Carson Domain, and Mina Deflection are between 1–4°/Myr, lower than published paleomagnetic rotation rates, suggesting that block rotation rates have decreased since the Late to Middle Miocene.

Application of UAV Photography to Refining the Slip Rate on the Pyramid Lake Fault Zone, Nevada

The Pyramid Lake fault zone (PLFZ) is a 50‐km‐long, active northwest‐trending right‐lateral fault in the northern Walker Lane, located ∼30 km east of Reno, Nevada. Previous paleoearthquake and slip‐rate studies report that the Pyramid Lake fault has produced four surface‐rupturing paleoearthquakes since 15,475±720 cal B.P., three of which occurred after 8980±260 cal B.P., and has had an average minimum slip rate of 2.6±0.3 mm/yr since the late Pleistocene. These observations imply that coseismic offset for each paleoearthquake averaged 7–9 m, larger than expected from empirical scaling relationships for a strike‐slip fault of its length. To reconcile this discrepancy, we used a small camera‐mounted unmanned aerial vehicle to develop high‐resolution digital elevation models and interpret previously unreported right‐laterally offset geomorphic features along the northern section of the PLFZ. Offset measurements at seven sites range from 8 to 21 m. The ages of displaced features are interpreted from previous lake level and mapping studies of Lake Lahontan. From these observations, slip‐rate estimates at the sites range between 0.5 and 1.6 mm/yr. These lower values of slip rate require that coseismic displacements associated with previously reported paleoearthquakes average only 3–5 m, within the range that would be predicted from empirical scaling relationships of rupture length and coseismic displacement.

Progressive derangement of ancient (Mesozoic) east-west Nevadaplano paleochannels into modern (Miocene–Holocene) north-northwest trends in the Walker Lane Belt, central Sierra Nevada

Progressive derangement of ancient (Mesozoic) east-west Nevadaplano paleochannels into modern (Miocene–Holocene) north-northwest trends in the Walker Lane Belt, central Sierra Nevada

Identifying block structure in the Pacific Northwest, USA

AbstractWe have identified block structure in the Pacific Northwest (west of 116°W between 38°N and 49°N) by clustering GPS stations so that the same Euler vector approximates the velocity of each station in a cluster. Given the total number k of clusters desired, the clustering procedure finds the best assignment of stations to clusters. Clustering is calculated for k = 2–14. In geographic space, cluster boundaries that remain relatively stable as k is increased are tentatively identified as block boundaries. That identification is reinforced if the cluster boundary coincides with a geologic feature. Boundaries identified in Northern California and Nevada are the Central Nevada Seismic Belt, the west side of the Northern Walker Lane Belt, and the Bartlett Springs Fault. Three blocks cover all of Oregon and Washington. The principal block boundary there extends west‐northwest along the Brothers Fault Zone, then north and northwest along the eastern boundary of Siletzia, the accreted oceanic basement of the forearc. East of this boundary is the Intermountain block; its eastern boundary undefined. A cluster boundary at Cape Blanco subdivides the forearc along the faulted southern margin of Siletzia. South of Cape Blanco, the Klamath Mountains‐Basin and Range block, extends east to the Central Nevada Seismic Belt and south to the Sierra Nevada‐Great Valley block. The Siletzia block, north of Cape Blanco, coincides almost exactly with the accreted Siletz terrane. The cluster boundary in the eastern Olympic Peninsula may mark permanent shortening of Siletzia against the Intermountain block.

Late Cenozoic displacement transfer in the eastern Sylvania Mountain fault system and Lida Valley pull-apart basin, southwestern Nevada, based on three-dimensional gravity depth inversion and forward models

The Sylvania Mountain fault system is a major left-oblique structure that extends east from the Furnace Creek–Fish Lake Valley fault in southwestern Nevada (USA). The system interacts with a series of north-northeast–striking structures that bound a rectilinear pull-apart basin, Lida Valley, and serve as part of a displacement transfer system relaying slip from the eastern California shear zone to the Walker Lane. On the basis of gravity analysis, the Lida Valley basin is internally dissected by a complex system of faults. The subsurface basin morphology differs from north to south. Major extensional faults localized displacement in the north and formed deep basins, but in the south, displacement was distributed on widely spaced structures with modest displacement. Localized extension in the north is separated from the southern domain of distributed deformation by a west-northwest oblique-slip fault. The subsurface geometry of the basin was determined from a gravity survey with measurements depth inverted in three dimensions. Geologic cross sections were constructed and their gravity signatures forward modeled for compatibility with observations. Projections of mapped faults together with structures determined from gravity modeling were combined to construct the subsurface geometry of the Lida Valley fault system and to evaluate a fault displacement budget. By conserving fault slip on the array of structures, restoration of the pre-Neogene basement to a reference datum indicates a cumulative vertical displacement of 2.3–2.5 km since the onset of basin formation. Vertical displacement estimates were used to compute the horizontal component of extension, which ranges from 1.3 to 1.4 km.

Mitigation of atmospheric phase delays in InSAR data, with application to the eastern California shear zone

AbstractWe present a method for estimating radar phase delays due to propagation through the troposphere and the ionosphere based on the averaging of redundant interferograms that share a common scene. Estimated atmospheric contributions can then be subtracted from the radar interferograms to improve measurements of surface deformation. Inversions using synthetic data demonstrate that this procedure can considerably reduce scatter in the time series of the line‐of‐sight displacements. We demonstrate the feasibility of this method by comparing the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series derived from ERS‐1/2 and Envisat data to continuous Global Positioning System data from eastern California. We also present results from several sites in the eastern California shear zone where anomalous deformation has been reported by previous studies, including the Blackwater fault, the Hunter Mountain fault, and the Coso geothermal plant.

Analysis of Foreshock Sequences in California and Implications for Earthquake Triggering

We analyze foreshock activity in California and compare observations with simulated catalogs based on a branching aftershock-triggering model. We first examine foreshock occurrence patterns for isolated \(M \ge 5\) earthquakes in southern California from 1981 to 2011 and in northern California from 1984 to 2009. Among the 64 \(M \ge 5\) mainshocks, excluding 3 swarms and 3 doubles, 53 % of the rest are preceded by at least one foreshock within 30 days and 5 km. Foreshock occurrence appears correlated with mainshock faulting type and depth. Foreshock area is correlated with the magnitude of the largest foreshock and the number of foreshocks, however, it is not correlated with mainshock magnitude. We then examine the occurrence pattern of all seismicity clusters without a minimum magnitude requirement, and the possibility that they are “foreshocks” of larger mainshocks. Only about 30 % of the small clusters lead to a larger cluster. About 66 % of the larger clusters have foreshock activities, and the spatial distribution pattern is similar to \(M \ge 5\) mainshocks, with lower occurrence rates in the Transverse Range and central California and higher occurrence rates in the Eastern California Shear Zone and the Bay Area. These results suggest that foreshock occurrence is largely controlled by the regional tectonic stress field and fault zone properties. In special cases, foreshock occurrence may be useful for short-term forecasting; however, foreshock properties are not reliably predictive of the magnitude of the eventual “mainshock”. Comparison with simulated catalogs suggest that the “swarmy” features and foreshock occurrence rate in the observed catalogs are not well reproduced from common statistical models of earthquake triggering.

New constraints on fault architecture, slip rates, and strain partitioning beneath Pyramid Lake, Nevada

A seismic compressed high-intensity radar pulse (CHIRP) survey of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, defines fault architecture and distribution within a key sector of the northern Walker Lane belt. More than 500 line-kilometers of high-resolution (decimeter) subsurface imagery, together with dated piston and gravity cores, were used to produce the first comprehensive fault map and attendant slip rates beneath the lake. A reversal of fault polarity is observed beneath Pyramid Lake, where down-to-the-east slip on the dextral Pyramid Lake fault to the south switches to down-to-the-west displacement on the Lake Range fault to the north. Extensional deformation within the northern two thirds of the basin is bounded by the Lake Range fault, which exhibits varying degrees of asymmetric tilting and stratal divergence due to along-strike segmentation. This structural configuration likely results from a combination of changes in slip rate along strike and the splaying of fault segments onshore. The potential splaying of fault segments onshore tends to shift the focus of extension away from the lake. The combination of normal- and oblique-slip faults in the northern basin gives Pyramid Lake its distinctive “fanning open to the north” geometry. The oblique-slip faults in the northwestern region of the lake are short and discontinuous in nature, possibly representing a nascent shear zone. In contrast, the Lake Range fault is long and well defined. Vertical slip rates measured across the Lake Range and other faults provide new estimates on extension across the Pyramid Lake basin. A minimum vertical slip rate of ∼1.0 mm/yr is estimated along the Lake Range fault. When combined with fault length, slip rates yield a potential earthquake magnitude range between M6.4 and M7.0. Little to no offset on the Lake Range fault is observed in the sediment rapidly emplaced at the end of Tioga glaciation (12.5–9.5 ka). In contrast, since 9.5 ka, CHIRP imagery provides evidence for three or four major earthquakes, assuming a characteristic offset of 2.5 m per event. Regionally, our CHIRP investigation helps to reveal how strain is partitioned along the boundary between the northeastern edge of the Walker Lane and the northwest Basin and Range Province proper.

Recovery of secular deformation field of Mojave Shear Zone in Southern California from historical terrestrial and GPS measurements

AbstractThe 1992 Mw 7.3 Landers and 1999 Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquakes struck the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) in the Mojave Desert, Southern California. Coseismic and postseismic deformation from these events affect efforts to use Global Positioning System (GPS) observations collected since these events to establish a secular surface velocity field, especially in the near field of the coseismic ruptures. We devise block motion models constrained by both historical pre‐Landers triangulation and trilateration observations and post‐Landers GPS measurements to recover the secular deformation field and differentiate the postseismic transients in the Mojave region. Postseismic transients are found to remain in the Southern California Earthquake Center Crustal Motion Map Version 4, Plate Boundary Observatory, and Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center GPS velocity solutions in the form of 2–3 mm/yr excess right‐lateral shear across the Landers and Hector Mine coseismic ruptures. The cumulative deformation rate across the Mojave ECSZ is 13.2–14.4 mm/yr, at least twice the geologic rate since the late Pleistocene (≤6.2 ± 1.9 mm/yr). Postseismic GPS time series based on our secular velocity field reveal enduring late‐stage transient motions in the near field of the coseismic ruptures that provide new constraints on the rheological structure of the lower crust and upper mantle.

Kinematic modeling of fault slip rates using new geodetic velocities from a transect across the Pacific‐North America plate boundary through the San Bernardino Mountains, California

AbstractCampaign GPS data collected from 2002 to 2014 result in 41 new site velocities from the San Bernardino Mountains and vicinity. We combined these velocities with 93 continuous GPS velocities and 216 published velocities to obtain a velocity profile across the Pacific‐North America plate boundary through the San Bernardino Mountains. We modeled the plate boundary‐parallel, horizontal deformation with 5–14 parallel and one obliquely oriented screw dislocations within an elastic half‐space. Our rate for the San Bernardino strand of the San Andreas Fault (6.5 ± 3.6 mm/yr) is consistent with recently published latest Quaternary rates at the 95% confidence level and is slower than our rate for the San Jacinto Fault (14.1 ± 2.9 mm/yr). Our modeled rate for all faults of the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) combined (15.7 ± 2.9 mm/yr) is faster than the summed latest Quaternary rates for these faults, even when an estimate of permanent, off‐fault deformation is included. The rate discrepancy is concentrated on faults near the 1992 Landers and 1999 Hector Mine earthquakes; the geodetic and geologic rates agree within uncertainties for other faults within the ECSZ. Coupled with the observation that postearthquake deformation is faster than the pre‐1992 deformation, this suggests that the ECSZ geodetic‐geologic rate discrepancy is directly related to the timing and location of these earthquakes and is likely the result of viscoelastic deformation in the mantle that varies over the timescale of an earthquake cycle, rather than a redistribution of plate boundary slip at a timescale of multiple earthquake cycles or longer.

Latest Pleistocene and Holocene slip rates on the Lone Mountain fault: Evidence for accelerating slip in the Silver Peak-Lone Mountain extensional complex

Determining the constancy of fault slip rates over time is critical in characterizing strain distribution across plate boundaries such as the Pacific-North American plate boundary in the western U.S. We present results from the Lone Mountain fault, a normal fault within the southern Walker Lane, that suggest slip rates there may have increased approximately twofold since the late Pleistocene. We combine detailed field surficial mapping, topographic surveying, and 10Be cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages to calculate new late Pleistocene and Holocene slip rates on the Lone Mountain fault. Alluvial fans with ages of 14.6 ± 1.4 ka and 8.0 ± 0.9 ka are vertically offset 10.2 ± 0.6 m and 4.7 ± 0.6 m, respectively, yielding vertical slip rates of 0.7 ± 0.1 mm/yr and 0.6 ± 0.1 mm/yr. These slip rates are faster than the rates of 0.1 to 0.4 mm/yr from earlier in the Pleistocene, defining a pattern of accelerating slip on the Lone Mountain fault over a timescale of 104 years. The possibility of accelerating slip rates in parts of the Walker Lane partially reconciles the observed discrepancy between long- and short-term slip rates in this region and elucidates the distribution of strain across an evolving plate boundary.

The unusual temporal and spatial slip history of the Wassuk Range normal fault, western Nevada (USA): Implications for seismic hazard and Walker Lane deformation

We document temporal and spatial variations in vertical displacement rate across 6 temporal orders of magnitude to better understand how the 100-km-long, east-dipping Wassuk Range normal fault system has accommodated strain in the context of the Walker Lane, a tectonically active, NNW-trending zone of dextral and extensional deformation that affects significant portions of western Nevada and eastern California. We combine 10 Be and 26 Al cosmonuclide exposure ages with shallow seismic and gravity data from the buried hanging wall of the Wassuk fault to derive a post–113 ka (10 5 yr time scale) vertical displacement rate of 0.82 ± 0.16 mm/yr. We also perform large-scale fault scarp analysis to constrain the long-term (>1 Ma; 10 6 yr time scale) displacement rate. Our fault-scarp analysis results imply similar vertical displacement rates, with higher long-term vertical displacement rates along the southern fault (∼1.1 mm/yr) relative to the northern fault ( Vertical displacement rate data at the 10 6 , 10 5 , 10 3 , and 10 1 yr time scales (this study and others) support a constant vertical displacement rate between 0.75 and 1.0 mm/yr for the Wassuk Range fault since ca. 4 Ma. An anomalously high vertical displacement rate at the 10 4 yr time scale is best explained by an earthquake cluster between ca. 15.5 ka and ca. 10.5 ka, potentially linked to rapid filling of the Walker Lake basin immediately prior to the ca. 13 ka Sehoo highstand of ancestral Lake Lahontan. We hypothesize that this flood event induced seismicity by placing an additional load on the hanging wall of the Wassuk Range fault and by increasing the pore-fluid pressure within and adjacent to the fault. Although an earthquake cluster like this is consistent with Wallace-type fault behavior, we suggest that a nontectonic stressor induced the cluster, resulting in the apparent discrepancy in vertical displacement rate at the 10 4 yr time scale. Thus, we posit that the long-term slip along Wassuk fault is better explained by slip-predictable Reid-type behavior, which deviates from the behavior of other well-documented fault systems. Based on these results, we suggest that similar, unrecognized nontectonic stressors may influence rates of strain release along other major fault systems worldwide. Finally, we present a revised model of central Walker Lane kinematics, based on data from this and other recent studies.

Systematic Receiver Function Analysis of the Moho Geometry in the Southern California Plate-Boundary Region

We investigate the geometry of the Moho interface in the southern California region including the San Andreas fault (SAF), San Jacinto fault zone (SJFZ), Elsinore fault (EF) and Eastern California Shear Zone with systematic analysis of receiver functions. The data set consists of 145 teleseismic events recorded at 188 broadband stations throughout the region. The analysis utilizes a 3D velocity model associated with detailed double-difference tomographic results for the seismogenic depth section around the SAF, SJFZ, and EF combined with a larger scale community model. A 3D ray tracing algorithm is used to produce effective 1D velocity models along each source-receiver teleseismic ray. Common Conversion Point (CCP) stacks are calculated using the set of velocity models extracted for each ray. The CCP stacks are analyzed with volumetric plots, maps of maximum CCP stack values, and projections along profiles that cross major faults and other features of interest. The results indicate that the Moho geometry in the study area is very complex and characterized by large prominent undulations along the NE–SW direction. A zone of relatively deep Moho (~35–40 km) with overall N–S direction crosses the SAF, SJFZ, and EF. A section of very shallow Moho (~10 km) below and to the SE of the Salton Trough, likely associated with a young oceanic crust, produces large Moho offsets at its margins. Locations with significant changes of Moho depth appear to be correlated with fault complexity in the brittle crust. The observations also show vertical Moho offsets of ~8 km across the SAF and SJFZ close to Cajon pass, and sections with no clear Moho phase underneath Cajon pass and adjacent to the SJFZ near Anza likely produced by complex local velocity structures in the brittle upper crust. These features are robust with respect to various parameters of the analysis procedure.

Evolution of the central Garlock fault zone, California: A major sinistral fault embedded in a dextral plate margin

The Garlock fault is an integral part of the plate-boundary deformation system inboard of the San Andreas fault (California, USA); however, the Garlock is transversely oriented and has the opposite sense of shear. The slip history of the Garlock is critical for interpreting the deformation of the through-going dextral shear of the Walker Lane belt–Eastern California shear zone. The Lava Mountains–Summit Range (LMSR), located along the central Garlock fault, is a Miocene volcanic center that holds the key to unraveling the fault slip and development of the Garlock. The LMSR is also located at the intersection of the NNW-striking dextral Blackwater fault and contains several sinistral WSW-striking structures that provide a framework for establishing the relationship between the sinistral Garlock fault system and the dextral Eastern California shear zone. New field mapping and geochronology data ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and U-Pb) show five distinct suites of volcanic-sedimentary rock units in the LMSR overlain by Pliocene exotic-clast conglomerates. This stratigraphy coupled with fifteen fault slip markers define a three-stage history for the central Garlock fault system of 11–7 Ma, 7–3.8 Ma, and 3.8–0 Ma. Pliocene to recent slip occurs in a ~12-km-wide zone and accounts for ~33 km or 51% of the total 64 km of left-lateral offset on the Garlock fault in the vicinity of the LMSR since 3.8 Ma. This history yields slip rates of 6–9 mm/yr for the younger stage and slower rates for older stages. The LMSR internally accommodates northwest-directed dextral slip associated with the Eastern California shear zone–Walker Lane belt via multiple processes of lateral tectonic escape, folding, normal faulting, and the creation of new faults. The geologic slip rates for the Garlock fault in the LMSR match with and explain along-strike variations in neotectonic rates.