Faulting history of the Long Valley caldera, eastern California
- Hampshire College, Amherst, MA (United States). School of Natural Science
The faulting history that produced the Sierra Nevada Range can be seen, in part, on the eastern contact of the Sierra Nevada Block with the Owens Valley Block. By surveying a series of remnant lake shore lines in the Long Valley Caldera of eastern California, the deformation and faulting history of the area can be inferred. These beaches are ideal for studying the faulting history of the area as their location is so near the contact of the two plates. The caldera sits on the Owens Valley Block just east of the major fault which separates it from the Sierra Nevada Block. It encompasses a ten mile by twenty mile area, which was filled with a lake after its creation some 730,000 years ago. Over time, the lake slowly lowered due to erosion of its sill, successive upward tilting of the Sierra Nevada Block, and consequent downward tilting of the Owens Valley Block. These changes in the attitude of the caldera floor and the beaches of the lake left the successive, non-parallel shore lines that have now been surveyed, mapped, and dated relative to each other. Together with the regional structures and history of the area, the remnant deformed shore lines can be used to develop a picture of the faulting history of the area and its relation to the rising of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
- OSTI ID:
- 5767793
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303211-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:2; Conference: 28. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Northeastern Section meeting, Burlington, VT (United States), 22-24 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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