America Pole Research Articles

Poland and the Holocaust in the Polish-American Press, 1926–1945

Poland and the Holocaust in the Polish-American Press, 1926–1945

Editorial Note

This issue of Polish American Studies opens volume 80 of the Polish American Historical Association's journal. Volume 1, edited by Constantin Symonelewicz, appeared in 1944 under the imprint of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, PAHA's parent organization. A lot has of course changed since 1944, but Polish American Studies remain a premier scholarly journal with a mission to present and promote the history of Polish diaspora in the Western Hemisphere. Polish American Studies is now broadly indexed and available online through JSTOR (past issues) and Scholarly Publishing Collective (current issues). Subscribers to Polish American Studies, both individuals and institutions, come from countries on all continents, and our editorial board as well as contributing authors represent a variety of disciplines, methodologies, and research interests. Volume 80 is certainly a milestone worth celebrating.As tradition dictates, we open the issue with an address by the outgoing PAHA President, Neal Pease, who reflects on his term in office during the challenging pandemic and post-pandemic times. In the first article in this issue, James S. Pula revisits foundational questions of why immigrants from the Polish lands came to America, how many came and when, and where they settled. Taking a long view of the problem, Pula examines both Polish and American circumstances, and uses the most recent research on the topic.In the second article, Thomas Hollowak presents a more focused view of American Polonia's history in a particular place and particular time. Hollowak explores the press chronicles of crime and murder in Baltimore that involved Polish immigrants as both perpetrators and victims, highlighting an understudied aspect of Polish American experience at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An announcement of note follows: John J. Bukowczyk shares news about PAHA Books, a new publishing initiative of our organization.In “Varia,” we present another research institution that focuses on the history of Poland and the history of Poles in America. The Polish Heritage Library and Archives in Panna Maria, Texas, although a relatively new institution, grows out of the tradition of Polish immigrant settlement in Texas, which continues since 1854.Last but not least, the book review section includes reviews of books authored or edited by Magdalena Kubow, Imogene Salva, Joanna Kulpińska, Dominik A. Stecula, Beata Dorosz, and Karen Walczyk Prescott.

The Immigrant as Subversive, 1914–1918, A Case Study of the American Poles

AbstractDuring World War I, the Poles in America were a large and recently-arrived community poorly understood by the host society. American authorities became passionately convinced that the Polish community contained a significant number who were, at least potentially, disloyal to the United States and had complex and mysterious links to the belligerent powers. The result was a series of investigations conspicuous for their incompetence and hysteria. It was eloquent testimony to the profound misunderstanding the American government had of the east of Europe during the war, and thereafter.

A Social History of Polish-American Catholicism

over 9 million Americans claim Polish ancestry. The vast majority of Polish Americans are descendants of immigrants who arrived on America's shores during the period from 1880 to 1924. Most settled in the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast though significant communities were founded in Texas and smaller communities in the West. Newer waves of Polish immigrants arrived following World War II and again in the 1980s and 1990s. Collectively this population is referred to as Polonia.1 The great majority of Polish Americans is and always has been Roman Catholic at least by baptism. Although preWorld War II Poland was a multi-ethnic and multiconfessional country, the process of immigration galvanized and re-created ethnic identities in the New World context. For example, Polish Jews, who also emigrated in large numbers during the same time period as their Catholic neighbors, largely identified as Jewish American or Russian Jewish in America.2 Their historical trajectory in the United States is quite different. Non-Catholic Poles in America never made up more than five percent of the total PolishAmerican population though it must admitted that it is impossible to affix precise numbers to many of the smaller groups. The largest and most prominent non-

Block kinematics of the Pacific–North America plate boundary in the southwestern United States from inversion of GPS, seismological, and geologic data

The active deformation of the southwestern United States (30°–41°N) is represented by a finite number of rotating, elastic‐plastic spherical caps. GPS‐derived horizontal velocities, geologic fault slip rates, transform fault azimuths, and earthquake‐derived fault slip vector azimuths are inverted for block angular velocities, creep on block‐bounding faults, permanent strain rates within the blocks, and the rotations of 11 published GPS velocity fields into to a common North American reference frame. GPS velocities are considered to be a combination of rigid block rotations, recoverable elastic strain rates resulting from friction on block‐bounding faults, and nonrecoverable strain rates resulting from slip on faults within the blocks. The resulting Pacific–North America angular velocity is similar to some published estimates and satisfies transform azimuths and one spreading rate in the Gulf of California, earthquake slip vectors in the Gulf of California and Alaska, and GPS velocities along coastal California and within the Pacific Basin. Published fault slip rates are satisfied except in the southern Mojave Desert where the motion of the Mohave block relative to North America is faster than can be explained by mapped faults. The largest blocks, the Sierra Nevada–Great Valley and the eastern Basin and Range, show permanent strain rates, after removing elastic strain, of only a few nanostrain per year, demonstrating approximately rigid behavior. Observed horizontal strain rates correlate strongly with predicted strain rates from known faults suggesting that the short‐term strains evident in GPS velocities are largely elastic. In only about 20% of the region is distributed deformation needed to match the data, indicating that a plate tectonic style description of the deformation of the western United States is plausible. Most blocks rotate about vertical axes at approximately the same rate as the Pacific (relative to North America), suggesting that locally, spin rates are communicated from block to block, arguing against both floating block and ball‐bearing mechanisms of block rotation. The similarities of the blocks' spin rates to that of the Pacific suggests that the Pacific strongly influences their motions through edge tractions. However, it is shown that the blocks cannot rotate about the Pacific–North America pole without spinning counter to the sense of Pacific–North America shear. Unlike some other broad plate boundaries, in the western United States, vertical axis rotations take up very little of the slip rate budget across the region.

Contemporary tectonic deformation of the Basin and Range province, western United States: 10 years of observation with the Global Positioning System

We have estimated patterns and rates of crustal movement across 800 km of the Basin and Range at ∼39° north latitude with Global Positioning System surveys in 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2002. The total rate of motion tangent to the small circle around the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation is 10.4 ± 1.0 mm/yr, and motion normal to this small circle is 3.9 ± 0.9 mm/yr compared to the east end of our network. On the Colorado Plateau the east end of our network moves by ∼1–2 mm/yr westerly with respect to North America. Transitions in strain rates delimit six major tectonic domains within the province. These deformation zones coincide with areas of modern seismicity and are, from east to west, (1) east‐west extension in the Wasatch Fault zone, (2) low rate east‐west extension centered near the Nevada‐Utah border, (3) low rate east‐west contraction between 114.7°W and 117.9°W, (4) extension normal to and strike‐slip motion across the N10°E striking Central Nevada Seismic Zone, (5) right lateral simple shear oriented N13°W inside the Walker Lane Belt, and (6) shear plus extension near the Sierra Nevada frontal faults. Concentration of shear and dilatational deformation across the three westernmost zones suggests that the Walker Lane Belt lithosphere is rheologically weak. However, we show that linear gradients in viscosity and gravitational potential energy can also effectively concentrate deformation. In the Basin and Range, gradients in gravitational potential are spatially anticorrelated with dilatational strain rates, consistent with the presence of horizontal variations in viscosity of the lithosphere.

A History of Poles in America to 1908. Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States

Book Review| January 01 2004 A History of Poles in America to 1908. Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States A History of Poles in America to 1908. Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States, Waclaw Kruszka, James S. Pula, M. B. Biskupski, Stanley Cuba and Krystyna Jankowski. Robert Szymczak Robert Szymczak Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of American Ethnic History (2004) 23 (2): 119–121. https://doi.org/10.2307/27501442 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Robert Szymczak; A History of Poles in America to 1908. Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States. Journal of American Ethnic History 1 January 2004; 23 (2): 119–121. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/27501442 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressJournal of American Ethnic History Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright 2004 Immigration and Ethnic History Society2004 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

A History of the Poles in America to 1908

Book Review| October 01 2003 A History of the Poles in America to 1908 A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Wacław Kruszka, James S. Pula and Krystyna Jankowski. John Radziłowski John Radziłowski Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Polish American Studies (2003) 60 (2): 87–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/20148672 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation John Radziłowski; A History of the Poles in America to 1908. Polish American Studies 1 January 2003; 60 (2): 87–89. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/20148672 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressPolish American Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright Polish American Historical Association Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Strain accumulation and rotation in western Nevada, 1993–2000

The positions of 44 GPS monuments in an array extending from the Sierra Nevada at the latitude of Reno to near Austin, Nevada, have been measured several times in the 1993–2000 interval. The western half of the array spans the Walker Lane belt, whereas the eastern half spans the central Nevada seismic zone (CNSZ). The principal strain rates in the Walker Lane belt are 29.6 ± 5.3 nstrain yr−1 N88.4°E ± 5.4° and −12.8 ± 6.0 nanostrain yr−1 N01.6°W ± 5.4°, extension reckoned positive, and the clockwise (as seen from above the Earth) rotation rate about a vertical axis is 13.6 ± 4.0 nrad yr−1. The quoted uncertainties are standard deviations. The motion in the Walker Lane belt can then be represented by a zone striking N35°W subject to 16.8 ± 4.9 nstrain yr−1 extension perpendicular to it and 19.5 ± 4.0 nstrain yr−1 right‐lateral, simple shear across it. The N35°W strike of the zone is the same as the direction of the local tangent to the small circle drawn about the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation. The principal strain rates for the CNSZ are 46.2 ± 11.0 nstrain yr−1 N49.9°W ± 6.0° and −13.6 ± 6.1 nstrain yr−1 N40.1°E ± 6.0°, and the clockwise rotation rate about a vertical axis is 20.3 ± 6.3 nrad yr−1. The motion across the CNSZ can then be represented by a zone striking N12°E subject to 32.6 ± 11.0 nstrain yr−1 extension perpendicular to it and 25.1 ± 6.3 nstrain yr−1 right‐lateral, simple shear across it. The N12°E strike of the zone is similar to the strikes of the faults (Rainbow Mountain, Fairview Peak, and Dixie Valley) within it.

A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States (review)

A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Part IV: Poles in the Central and Western States (review)

Present tectonic motion across the Coast Ranges and San Andreas fault system in central California

Research Article| December 01, 2001 Present tectonic motion across the Coast Ranges and San Andreas fault system in central California Donald F. Argus; Donald F. Argus 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Richard G. Gordon Richard G. Gordon 2Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar GSA Bulletin (2001) 113 (12): 1580–1592. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1580:PTMATC>2.0.CO;2 Article history received: 28 May 1999 rev-recd: 22 Jan 2000 accepted: 01 May 2001 first online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share MailTo Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Donald F. Argus, Richard G. Gordon; Present tectonic motion across the Coast Ranges and San Andreas fault system in central California. GSA Bulletin 2001;; 113 (12): 1580–1592. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1580:PTMATC>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Geodetic results from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), satellite laser ranging (SLR), and the Global Positioning System (GPS) are used to estimate angular velocities between the Sierran microplate, Pacific plate, and North American plate. The Sierra-Pacific pole of rotation lies nearer to the San Andreas fault than does the Pacific–North America pole of rotation and leads to different tectonic implications than if the latter is used. The angular velocities show that the San Andreas fault system and central California Coast Ranges accommodate motion of 39 ± 2 mm/yr, mainly by strike-slip faulting. (All confidence limits following ± signs in this paper are 95% confidence limits.) Fault-normal motion is small, is mainly convergent (at rates up to 3.3 ± 1.0 mm/yr), and varies along the coast, but is divergent (at 2.6 ± 1.2 mm/yr) across San Pablo Bay and associated topographic lows across which the Sierran and Central Valley watershed drains to the Pacific Ocean. The mountain ranges tend to be larger where the fault-normal convergence rates are larger. The low convergence rate (0.5 ± 1.8 mm/yr) normal to the San Andreas fault in the Carrizo Plain differs sharply from that previously inferred (8.2 ± 1.2 mm/yr and 4.9 ± 1.6 mm/yr) by Feigl et al. (1993). The difference is due to differences between their and our elastic strain accumulation models and between how their and our Pacific plate reference frames are defined.The ranges in most places require a minimum of 4 +2/–1 m.y. of fault-normal convergence at the present rate to attain their present cross-sectional area if erosion is neglected, more if it is not. The amount of convergence previously estimated from a balanced cross section across the Diablo Range in central California requires 10 +8/–3 m.y. of convergence at the present rate. The former is consistent with widely held views about the onset of the Coast Range orogeny, but the latter is not. Both are consistent, however, with the recent plate reconstructions by S. Cande, J. Stock, and colleagues, which indicate that Pacific plate motion relative to North America changed to a more convergent direction, 20°–25° clockwise of its prior direction, at ca. 8 to 6 Ma and not at 3.5 Ma, as had been previously inferred. The inferred change in direction of plate motion is large compared with the present angle of convergence across the straight and narrow segment of the San Andreas fault of 0.7°–4.7°, from which we infer that the Sierran microplate changed motion relative to North America at the same time (ca. 8 to 6 Ma) as did the Pacific plate. We further infer that the motion accommodated across the Great Basin must also have changed at the same time.We also examine the hypothesis that stable sliding occurs along the San Andreas fault and other northwest-striking strike- slip faults in central California where the fault-normal convergence rate is low or negative, and that these faults are unstable where the fault-normal convergence rate is high. Such a relationship appears to hold in general, but fails in detail. In particular, there are substantial sections of fault with small inferred rates of fault-normal convergence across which the San Andreas fault is locked. Moreover, the creeping section of the San Andreas fault (i.e., the section between Parkfield and the Calaveras junction) is the locus of greater fault-normal convergence (3.2 ± 1.4 mm/yr) than is the locked part of the fault (0.5 ± 1.8 mm/yr) south of Parkfield. Thus, this hypothesis is at best a partial explanation for the observed distribution of locked and nonlocked sections of the fault. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

Strain accumulation and rotation in the Eastern California Shear Zone

Although the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) (strike ∼N25°W) does not quite coincide with a small circle drawn about the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation, trilateration and GPS measurements demonstrate that the motion within the zone corresponds to right‐lateral simple shear across a vertical plane (strike N33°W±5°) roughly parallel to the tangent to that local small circle (strike ∼N40°W). If the simple shear is released by slip on faults subparallel to the shear zone, the accumulated rotation is also released, leaving no secular rotation. South of the Garlock fault the principal faults (e.g., Calico‐Blackwater fault) strike ∼N40°W, close enough to the strike of the vertical plane across which maximum right‐lateral shear accumulates to almost wholly accommodate that accumulation of both strain and rotation by right‐lateral slip. North of the Garlock fault dip slip as well as strike slip on the principal faults (strike ∼N20°W) is required to accommodate the simple shear accumulation. In both cases the accumulated rotation is released with the shear strain. The Garlock fault, which transects the ECSZ, is not offset by north‐northwest striking faults nor, despite geological evidence for long‐term left‐lateral slip, does it appear at the present time to be accumulating left‐lateral simple shear strain across the fault due to slip at depth. Rather the motion is explained by right‐lateral simple shear across the orthogonal ECSZ. Left‐lateral slip on the Garlock fault will release the shear strain accumulating there but would augment the accumulating rotation, resulting in a secular clockwise rotation rate ∼80 nrad yr−1 (4.6° Myr−1).

American "Polonia" and Poland, a Sequel to Poles in America: Bicentennial Essays

American "Polonia" and Poland, a Sequel to Poles in America: Bicentennial Essays

Strain accumulation across the Eastern California Shear Zone at latitude 36°30′N

The motion of a linear array of monuments extending across the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) has been measured from 1994 to 1999 with the Global Positioning System. The linear array is oriented N54°E, perpendicular to the tangent to the local small circle drawn about the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation, and the observed motion across the ECSZ is approximated by differential rotation about that pole. The observations suggest uniform deformation within the ECSZ (strike N23°W) (26 nstrain yr−1 extension normal to the zone and 39 nstrain yr−1 simple right‐lateral shear across it) with no significant deformation in the two blocks (the Sierra Nevada mountains and southern Nevada) on either side. The deformation may be imposed by right‐lateral slip at depth on the individual major fault systems within the zone if the slip rates are: Death Valley‐Furnace Creek fault 3.2±0.9 mm yr−1, Hunter Mountain‐Panamint Valley fault 3.3±1.6 mm yr−1, and Owens Valley fault 6.9±1.6 mm yr−1. However, this estimate of the slip rate on the Owens Valley fault is 3 times greater than the geologic estimate.

A History of the Poles in America to 1908 Part III: Poles in the Eastern and Southern States by Wacław Kruszka

116BOOK REVIEWS Catholic missionaries had more success with the Osages of mixed ethnic heritage , many of whom sent their children to the Catholic mission school. White also chronicles the trip of an Osage delegation in 1874 to Washington to request Catholic missionaries and a Catholic government agent for the reservation . After providing an account of the decline of the "Peace Policy," White then describes the struggles to establish Catholic schools for the Osages. He provides a detailed history of the struggles of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions with the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, Thomas Morgan and Daniel Browning, who sought to dismantle the practice of the federal funding of contract (religious) schools. Also crucial to the survival ofthe Catholic schools was Mother Katharine Drexel, and White describes how this heiress became involved in the financial support of the Osage mission schools when the Indian Office began to withdraw its support of these schools. White's book is a solid and useful history ofthe Osage Mission which is based on extensive research. At times the book is encumbered by more detail than is necessary, but on the whole the book is a valuable contribution to the study of the Osage mission. Ross A. Enochs Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts A History of the Poles in America to 1908. Part III: Poles in the Eastern and Southern States. By Wactaw Kruszka. Edited, with an Introduction, by James S. Pula. Translated by Krystyna Jankowski. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University ofAmerica Press. 1998. Pp. viii, 394. $59.95.) This is the third of four projected volumes combining and translating the original thirteen-volume Polish-language work written by an immigrant Polish priest around the turn of the century. Father Kruszka's History of the Poles in America is the magnum opus of a prolific author and offers readers the insights and opinions of an immigrant intellectual focused on the largest Slavic immigration. As a priest he was concerned mainly with the development of religious institutions. Now more of a primary than a secondary source, the work has a unique value since Kruszka had access to documents since lost, as well as a broad personal acquaintance with the clerical leadership of these numerous newcomers at the height of their entry into the United States. As in previous volumes, the work is meticulously endnoted under the competent editorship of James S. Pula. The citations are particularly relevant to scholars, but the explanatory notes serve to clarify references or figures now obscure in a work accessible to any interested reader. The translation is fluent and the reorganization ofthe volumes from thirteen to four has been structured logically through grouping states by region of the country, as noted in the subtitles . BOOK REVIEWS117 The contents range from brief histories of less than a page to long descriptions of major parishes. The short entries typically locate the church geographically ,followed by a listing ofpastors and often information on membership and societies. The existence of a school if present is invariably noted, a reflection of Father Kruszka's strong interest in education. He is best at the large colonies where background on settlement development provides a helpful context to congregational histories. His extended treatments are heavily biographical with an emphasis on clerics. The parish leader, known to but not necessarily admired by the author, evokes strong opinions that enliven the pages. A good example is his lengthy and insightful discussion of Father Dominik Kolasinski of Detroit's St. Wojciech (Adalbert) Church. A controversial figure in his own time, he emerges from the pen of the Ripon priest as blessed with social graces but willful, demagogic, and a burden to his bishop. Bishop Caspar Borgess does not escape criticism for his clumsy handling of the situation, and Kruszka's description emphasizes his sense that in America the opinion of laypersons must be consulted, though not always be determinant. The History offers an alltoo -rare sense of the flavor of life in a new ethnic community by an intellectual from the leading stratum of this largely peasant group. For scholars the volumes , enriched by the notation, offer a readable and stimulating source of information on the formative years ofAmerican Polonia...

Viscoelastic coupling model of the San Andreas Fault along the Big Bend, southern California

The big bend segment of the San Andreas fault is the 300‐km‐long segment in southern California that strikes about N65°W, roughly 25° counterclockwise from the local tangent to the small circle about the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation. The broad distribution of deformation of trilateration networks along this segment implies a locking depth of at least 25 km as interpreted by the conventional model of strain accumulation (continuous slip on the fault below the locking depth at the rate of relative plate motion), whereas the observed seismicity and laboratory data on fault strength suggest that the locking depth should be no greater than 10 to 15 km. The discrepancy is explained by the viscoelastic coupling model which accounts for the viscoelastic response of the lower crust. Thus the broad distribution of deformation observed across the big bend segment can be largely associated with the San Andreas fault itself, not subsidiary faults distributed throughout the region. The Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities [1995] in using geodetic data to estimate the seismic risk in southern California has assumed that strain accumulated off the San Andreas fault is released by earthquakes located off the San Andreas fault. Thus they count the San Andreas contribution to total seismic moment accumulation more than once, leading to an overestimate of the seismicity for magnitude 6 and greater earthquakes in their Type C zones.

A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Part II: The Poles in Illinois by Wacław Kruszka

A History of the Poles in America to 1908, Part II: The Poles in Illinois by Wacław Kruszka

Plate motion and crustal deformation estimated with geodetic data from the Global Positioning System

We use geodetic data taken over four years with the Global Positioning System (GPS) to estimate (1) motion between six major plates and (2) motion relative to these plates of ten sites in plate boundary zones. The degree of consistency between geodetic velocities and rigid plates requires the (one‐dimensional) standard errors in horizontal velocities to be ∼2 mm/yr. Each of the 15 angular velocities describing motion between plate pairs that we estimate with GPS differs insignificantly from the corresponding angular velocity in global plate motion model NUVEL‐1A, which averages motion over the past 3 m.y. The motion of the Pacific plate relative to both the Eurasian and North American plates is observed to be faster than predicted by NUVEL‐1A, supporting the inference from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) that motion of the Pacific plate has sped up over the past few m.y. The Eurasia‐North America pole of rotation is estimated to be north of NUVEL‐1A, consistent with the independent hypothesis that the pole has recently migrated northward across northeast Asia to near the Lena River delta. Victoria, which lies above the main thrust at the Cascadia subduction zone, moves relative to the interior of the overriding plate at 30% of the velocity of the subducting plate, reinforcing the conclusion that the thrust there is locked beneath the continental shelf and slope.

An apparent shear zone trending north‐northwest across the Mojave Desert into Owens Valley, eastern California

Strain rates measured at four geodetic networks in eastern California situated between northern Owens Valley and the Transverse Ranges along a small circle drawn about the Pacific‐North America pole of rotation are remarkably consistent. Each exhibits 0.14 μrad/yr simple right‐lateral engineering‐shear‐strain accumulation across the local vertical plane tangent to the small circle. Local faults (e.g., Owens Valley, Garlock, Helendale) traversing these networks are not as closely aligned with the vertical planes of maximum shear‐strain accumulation as is the local tangent to the small circle. A fifth network slightly east of the small circle shows no significant strain accumulation. Thus, a shear zone trending N35° W from near the eastern end of the big bend of the San Andreas fault to northern Owens Valley is indicated by these data. This corresponds to the Eastern California shear zone proposed on geological evidence by Dokka and Travis. The shear zone carries ∼8 mm/yr of the Pacific‐North America relative plate motion from the San Andreas fault north‐northwest across the Mojave Desert into Owens Valley and the northern Basin and Range province. The shear zone observed at the surface may be a manifestation of a through‐going subcrustal fault.

Present-day plate interactions in Northeast Asia: North American, Eurasian, and Okhotsk plates

Based on seismicity and focal mechanisms, a separate Okhotsk plate is identified which includes most of the Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Suntar-Khayata Mountains, in the northeastern USSR. Using slip vectors from the largest earthquakes in the region, we obtain a North America-Eurasia pole of rotation near the Lena River delta and a Okhotsk-North America pole off western Chukotka. The computed poles satisfy observed thrust faulting mechanisms in the northern Cherskii Mountains which are discordant with models proposed by previous workers. It is suggested that the Arctic rift propagated through northeast Siberia to the Pacific, separating the Okhotsk plate and causing a recent (<3Ma) change in location of the North America-Eurasia pole of rotation.