The Wynne Avenue site in the California San Fernando Valley was analyzed using two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear dynamic analyses (NDAs) with geostatistical subsurface modeling to interpret key mechanisms contributing to a 12-m-wide graben deformation with vertical offsets of 10–20 cm in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In-situ data from borings and cone penetration tests (CPTs), joined with geological interpretations of the distal alluvial fan deposition, delineate interlayered silty sand lenses within a typically fine-grained soil stratigraphy. The NDAs used the PM4Sand and PM4Silt constitutive models with the FLAC finite difference program. NDAs with uniform properties for distinct soil zones closely reproduced the observed graben. However, stochastic NDAs, modeled with sequential Gaussian simulations (SGS) for conditional random field realizations of critical zones, often obscured the expected graben. The ability of the stochastic NDAs to model the graben was further reduced when SGS was performed collectively over two distinct soil zones. The NDAs provide new insights on the causal mechanisms of liquefaction-induced ground oscillations and lurching, that were not easily deduced from common one-dimensional (1D) liquefaction vulnerability indices (LVIs) and Newmark sliding-block analyses. This case study demonstrates the capabilities of system-level NDAs for modeling localized ground deformation patterns, but also highlights cautionary nuances for their implementation with data-driven stochastic subsurface modeling.