HR: 1330h
AN: T22A-0502    [PDF]
TI: Owens Valley fault kinematics: Right-lateral slip transfer via north-northeast trending normal faults at the northern end of the Owens Valley fault
AU: * Sheehan, T P
EM: tsheehan@tulane.edu
AF: Tulane University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Orleans, La 70118 United States
AU: Dawers, N H
EM: ndawers@tulane.edu
AF: Tulane University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New Orleans, La 70118 United States
AB: The occurrence of several northeast trending normal faults along the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada escarpment are evidence of right-lateral slip transfer across northern Owens Valley from the Owens Valley fault to the White Mountains fault zone. Interaction between the Sierran frontal normal fault and these two fault zones has created a transtensional tectonic environment, which allows for right-lateral slip transfer via a population of northwest dipping normal faults within the Late Quaternary-Holocene alluvial valley fill of northern Owens Valley. A component of normal movement within the valley floor has been documented along fifteen faults. This includes the Tungsten Hills fault, two faults near Klondike Lake, and twelve or so, some possibly linked, small NNE trending scarps southeast of the town of Bishop. One fault segment, located just past the tip of the 1872 earthquake rupture, reveals a minimum of 3.2 meters of normal throw along much of its length. This fault shows evidence for at least three large ruptures, each exhibiting at least one meter of vertical slip. In addition, a large population of normal faults with similar orientations is mapped within the immediate vicinity of this scarp segment. These faults accommodate a substantial amount of normal movement allowing for eastward right lateral slip transfer. With the exception of the Tungsten Hills fault, they are primarily concentrated along a segment of the Sierran Escarpment known as the Coyote Warp. The pre-existing normal fault geometry along this segment acts to block the northward propagation of right-lateral movement, which is consequently forced across the valley floor to the White Mountain fault zone.
DE: 8010 Fractures and faults
DE: 8015 Local crustal structure
DE: 8107 Continental neotectonics
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting