Behavior of Late Quaternary and historical faults in the western Basin and Range province

Conference · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5291889

Bell, J W ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology

Quaternary stratigraphic relations and exploratory trenching in zones of historical surface faulting in the western Basin and Range Province suggest that faults with historical surface ruptures have similar, and in some cases lower, long-term (late Quaternary) and short-term (Holocene) slip rates than other adjacent and regional non-historical Quaternary faults. In the 1954 Dixie Valley earthquake (M6.8) zone, the range-front and piedmont faults collectively record a late Quaternary (200 ka) slip rate on the order of 0.2 mm/yr and a Holocene (7--12 ka) slip rate of 0.5--0.8 mm/yr. The principal segment of the 1932 Cedar Mountain earthquake (M7.2) zone has an estimated latest Quaternary (25--35 ka) slip rate of 0.2--0.7 mm/yr and a Holocene (6--13 ka) slip rate of 0.3--0.7 mm/yr. The 1954 Rainbow Mountain earthquakes (M6.6 and M6.8) and 1954 Fairview Peak earthquake (M7.1) zones have late Quaternary slip rates that are lower (< 0.1 mm/yr), and although there are adjacent Holocene faults, neither zone shows surficial evidence of a previous Holocene event as do the first two zones. The 13 ka Lahontan shoreline at Rainbow Mountain is displaced only by the 1954 faulting, and the main segment of the Fairview Peak zone is overlain by a late Pleistocene (60--120 ka) alluvial fan which is offset by only the 1954 event. An important observation its that the central Nevada seismic belt is not unique based on slip rates. The greatest slip rates in the central and western Nevada region are associated with the Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone and the northern Walker Lane (Pyramid Lake) fault zone where Holocene slip rates are [>=] 1 mm/yr. Based on a comparison of Holocene and late Quaternary rates, many, but not all, historical and non-historical zones show evidence of temporal clustering.

• OSTI ID: 5291889
• Report Number(s): CONF-9305259--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
CENOZOIC ERA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISPLACEMENT RATES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
NEVADA
NORTH AMERICA
QUATERNARY PERIOD
SEISMICITY
STRATIGRAPHY
USA