Quaternary faults of west Texas
- Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Bureau of Economic Geology
North- and northwest-striking intermontane basins and associated normal faults in West Texas and adjacent Chihuahua, Mexico, formed in response to Basin and Range tectonism that began about 24 Ma ago. Data on the precise ages of faulted and unfaulted Quaternary deposits are sparse. However, age estimates made on the basis of field stratigraphic relationships and the degree of calcic soil development have helped determine that many of the faults that bound the basin margins ruptured since the middle Pleistocene and that some faults probably ruptured during the Holocene. Average recurrence intervals between surface ruptures since the middle Pleistocene appear to be relatively long, about 10,000 to 100,000 yr. Maximum throw during single rupture events have been between 1 and 3 m. Historic seismicity in West Texas is low compared to seismicity in many parts of the Basin and Range province. The largest historic earthquake, the 1931 Valentine earthquake in Ryan Flat/Lobo Valley, had a magnitude of 6.4 and no reported surface rupture. The most active Quaternary faults occur within the 120-km-long Hueco Bolson, the 70-km-long Red Light Bolson, and the > 200-km-long Salt Basins/Wild Horse Flat/Lobo Valley/Ryan Flat.
- OSTI ID:
- 5342399
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9305259--
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Vol. 25:5; ISSN GAAPBC; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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