Tulane University

Geology 607

Neotectonics of the San Andreas Margin


Dr. Nancye Dawers

Developed in Spring 2002

Send e-mail to ndawers@tulane.edu

General References We’ll Use Throughout:

Required:  Burbank, D.W., and Anderson, R.A., 2001, Tectonic Geomorphology, Blackwell Science. 274 p.

Reserve:  Scholz, C.H., 1990, The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting,Cambridge University Press. 439 p.

Reserve :  Wallace, R.E., ed., 1990, The San Andreas Fault System, California, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1515, 283 p.

Informative Websites We’ll Also Use:

The Seminar Consists of 4 Main Sections:

Overview, including "big picture" tectonics, general tectonic geomorph & paleoseismology
3 Very Illustrative Earthquakes: 1872 Lone Pine, 1906 San Francisco & 1992 Landers EQs
Mechanics, including the friction debate and recent work on stress triggering
Regional Neotectonics (Mendocino, the Bay Area, the central San Andreas, Big Bend and L.A. Basin, Eastern California Shear Zone & Walker Lane)

OVERVIEW

Big Picture

Atwater, T., 1989, Plate tectonic history of the northeast Pacific and western North America, in The Geology of North America, v. N, The Eastern Pacific Ocean and Hawaii, Winterer, E.L., et al., eds., Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Col., p. 21-72.

Bennett, R.A., Davis, J.L., and Wernicke, B.P., 1999, Present-day pattern of Cordilleran deformation in the western United States, Geology, v. 27 (4), p. 371-374.

Shen-Tu, B.M., Holt, W.E., and Haines, A.J., 1999, Deformation kinematics in the western United States determined from Quaternary fault slip rates and recent geodetic data, J. Geophys. Res., 104 (B12), p. 28,927-28,955.

General Tectonic Geomorphology

Burbank and Anderson text: Ch. 4, Stress, Faults, and Folds, particularly section on "Geomorphic Expression of Faults", pp. 64-77.

Wallace, R.E., 1990, Ch. 1. General features, in Wallace, R.E., ed., The San Andreas Fault System, California, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1515, p. 3-12.

Wallace, R.E., 1990, Ch. 2. Geomorphic expression / A photographic album of fault features, in Wallace, R.E., ed., The San Andreas Fault System, California, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1515, p. 15-58.

Paleoseismology

Burbank and Anderson text: p. 8 last para — 11; and Ch. 6, Paleoseismology, p. 105-129.

Sieh, K.E., 1984, Lateral offsets and revised dates of large earthquakes at Pallett Creek, California, J. Geophys, Res., 89, 7641-7670.

Sieh, K.E., and Jahns, R.H., 1984, Holocene activity of the San Andreas fault at Wallace Creek, California, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., p.883-896.

Sieh, K., 1996, The repetition of large-earthquake ruptures, Proceedings of the Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, v. 93 (9), p. 3764-3771.
 

3 VERY ILLUSTRATIVE EARTHQUAKES

The 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake - will be discussed later in the course

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & its Scientific Importance

Ellsworth, W.L., 1990, in Wallace, R.E., ed., The San Andreas Fault System, California, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1515; see 1906 section and related photos, p. 159-163.

Gilbert, G.K., 1884, A theory of earthquakes of the Great Basin, with a practical application, Amer. J. Sci., XXVII, p. 49-53.

Gilbert, G.K., 1909, Earthquake forecasts, Science, XXIX, p. 121-138.

Reid, H.F., 1910, The mechanics of the earthquake, v. II, in The California earthquake of April 18, 1906, Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Committee, Carnegie, Inst., Washington, p. 15-32.

The 1992 Landers Earthquake … & its Scientific Importance

Jaume, S.C., and Sykes, L.R., 1992, Change in the state of stress on the southern San Andreas fault resulting from the California earthquake sequence of April to June 1992, Science, v. 258, p. 1325-1328.

Stein, R.S., King, G.L.P., and Lin, J., 1992, Change in failure stress on the southern San Andreas fault system caused by the 1992 magnitude=7.4 Landers earthquake, Science, v. 258, p. 1328-1332.

Massonet, D., Rossi, M., Carmona, C., Adragna, F., Peltzer, G., Feigl, K., and Rabaute, T., 1993, The displacement field of the Landers earthquake mapped by radar interferometry, Nature, v. 364, p.138-142.

Zachariasen, J., and Sieh, K., 1995, The transfer of slip between two en echelon strike-slip faults: a case study from the 1992 Landers earthquake, southern California, J. Geophys. Res., v. 100 (B8), p. 15,281-15,301.

If interested; good overview:

Massonnet, D., and Feigl, K.L., 1998, Radar interferometry and its application to changes in the Earth's surface, Rev. Geophys., v. 36 (4), p. 441-500.
 

MECHANICS

The debate about the frictional strength of the San Andreas fault

Zoback, M.D., and Healy, J.H., 1992, In situ stress measurements to 3.5 km depth in the Cajon Pass scientific research borehole: implications for the mechanics of crustal faulting. J. Geophys. Res. 97, p. 5039-5057.

Scholz, C.H., and Saucier, F.J. 1993. What do the Cajon Pass stress measurements say about stress on the San Andreas fault? — In situ stress measurements to 3.5 km depth in the Cajon Pass scientific research borehole: implications for the mechanics of crustal faulting - Comment. J. Geophys. Res., 98,p. 17867-17869.

Zoback, M.D., 1993. — Reply to Scholz and Saucier.

Scholz, C.H., 2000, Evidence for a strong San Andreas fault, Geology, v. 28 (2), 163-166.

(See also Scholz and Hanks preprint)
 

Fault Interaction and Stress Triggering

Harris, R.A., 1998, Introduction to the special section: stress triggers, stress shadows, and implications for seismic hazard, J. Geophys. Res., v. 103 (B10), 24,347-24,358.

Freed, A.M., and Lin, J., 1998, Time-dependent changes in failure stress following thrust earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., v. 103 (B10), 24,393-24,409.

Bowman, D.D., Ouillon, G., Sammis, C.G., Sornette, A., and Sornette, D., 1998, An observational test of the critical earthquake concept, J. Geophys. Res., v. 103 (B10), 24,359-24,372.
 

REGIONAL NEOTECTONICS

Mendocino Triple Junction & Vicinity

Merritts, D.J., 1996, The Mendocino triple junction: active faults, episodic coastal emergence, and rapid uplift, J. Geophys. Res., v. 101 (B3), p. 6051-6070.

See Burbank & Anderson, p. 14-15, p. 177-180, on marine terraces.

Prentice, C.S., Merritts, D.J., Beutner, E.C., et al., 1999, Northern San Andreas fault near Shelter Cove, California, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull, v. 111 (4), p. 512-523.

Wakabayashi, J., 1999, Distribution of displacement on and evolution of a young transform fault system: the northern San Andreas fault system, California, Tectonics, v. 18 (6), p. 1245-1274.

San Francisco Bay Area: Slip Rates and Seismic Hazard

1999 Working Group Report Overview: Understanding Earthquake Hazards in the San Francisco Bay Region

Bürgmann, R., Schmidt, D., Nadeau, R.M., et al., 2000, Earthquake potential along the northern Hayward fault, California, Science, v. 289, p. 1178-1182.

The Parkfield Experiment & the Central San Andreas

Bakun, W.H., and McEvilly, T.V., 1984, Recurrence models and Parkfield, California, earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 89, p. 3051-3058.

Bakun, W., and Lindh, A., 1985, The Parkfield, California, earthquake prediction experiment, Science, v. 229, p. 619-624.

Roeloffs, E., and Langbein, J., 1994, The earthquake prediction experiment at Parkfield, California, Rev. Geophys., v. 32 (3), p. 315-336.

Miller, S.A., 1996, Fluid-mediated influence of adjacent thrusting on the seismic cycle at Parkfield, Nature, v. 382, p. 799-802.

Nadeau, R.M., and McEvilly, T.V., 1999, Fault slip rates at depth from recurrence intervals of repeating microearthquakes, Science, v. 285, p. 718-721.

Parkfield and the new San Andreas drilling site

The "Creeping" Section

Irwin, W.P., and Barnes, I., 1975, Effects of geological structure and metamorphic fluids on seismic behavior of the San Andreas fault system in central and northern California, Geology, v. 3, p. 713-716.

Marone, C., and Scholz, C.H., 1988, The depth of seismic faulting and the upper transition from stable to unstable slip regimes. Geophys. Res. Lett., v. 15, 621-624.

Rubin, A.M., Gillard, D., and Got, J.L., 1999, Streaks of microearthquakes along creeping faults, Nature, v. 400, p. 635-641.

Around the "Big Bend": Thrust Faulting, Fold Growth, Uplift and Seismic Hazard

Burbank and Anderson text: Ch., 4., section "Folds", p. 77-83; Ch. 9, section on "Growing Folds", p. 193-199.

Shaw, J.H., and Suppe, J., 1996, Earthquake hazards of active blind-thrust faults under the central Los Angeles basin, California, J. Geophys. Res., v. 101 (B4), p. 8623-8642.

Spotila, J.A., Farley, K.A., and Sieh, K., 1998, Uplift and erosion of the San Bernardino Mountains associated with transpression along the San Andreas fault, California, as constrained by radiogenic helium thermochronometry, Tectonics, v. 17 (3), 360-378.

Seeber, L., and Sorlein, C.C., 2000, Listric thrusts in the western Transverse Ranges, California, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., v. 112, p. 1067-1079.

Pinter, N., Johns, B., Little, B., and Vestal, W.D., 2001, Fault-related folding in California’s northern Channel Islands documented by rapid-static GPS positioning, GSA Today, v. 11 (5), p. 4-9.

1872 Lone Pine Earthquake and Owens Valley fault

Beanland, S., and Clark, M.M., 1994, The Owens Valley fault zone, eastern California, and surface rupture associated with the 1872 earthquake, U.S. Geol. Surv., Bull. 1982, 29 p.

Reheis, M.C., and Dixon, T.H., 1996, Kinematics of the Eastern California shear zone: Evidence for slip transfer from Owens and Saline Valley fault zones to Fish Lake Valley fault zone, Geology, v. 24 (4), p. 339-342.

Lee, J., Spencer, J., and Owen, L., 2001, Holocene slip rates along the Owens Valley fault, California, implications for the recent evolution of the Eastern California Shear Zone, Geology, v. 29 (9), 819-822.

The Eastern California Shear Zone (will cull this down to 3 or 4)

Dokka, R.K., and Travis, C.J., 1990, Role of the Eastern California Shear Zone in accommodating Pacific-North America plate motion. Geophys. Res. Lett., v. 17, p. 1323-1326.

Dixon, T.H., Miller, M, Farina, F., et al., 2000, Present-day motion of the Sierra Nevada block and some tectonic implications for the Basin and Range province, North American Cordillera, Tectonics, v. 19 (1), p. 1-24.

Gan, W.J., Svarc, J.L., Savage, J.C., and Prescott, W.H., 2000, Strain accumulation across the Eastern California Shear Zone at latitude 36 degrees 30 ' N, J. Geophys. Res., v. 105 (B7)p. 16229-16236.

Miller, M.M., Johnson, D.J., Dixon ,T.H., and Dokka, R.K., 2001, Refined kinematics of the Eastern California shear zone from GPS observations, 1993-1998, J. Geophys. Res., v. 106 (B2), p. 2245-2263.

McClusky, S.C., Bjornstad, S.C., Hager, B.H., King, R.W., Meade, B.J., Miller, M.M., Monastero, F.C., and Souter, B.J., 2001, Present day kinematics of the Eastern California Shear Zone from a geodetically constrained block model, Geophys. Res. Lett., v. 28 (17), p. 3369-3372.

…& the "Walker Lane"

Cashman, P.H., and Fontaine, S.A., 2000, Strain partitioning in the northern Walker Lane, western Nevada and northeastern California, Tectonophysics, v. 326 (1-2). p. 111-130.

Oldow, J.S., Aiken, C.L.V., Hare, J.L., Ferguson, J.F., and Hardyman, R.F., 2001, Active displacement transfer and differential block motion within the central Walker Lane, western Great Basin, Geology, v. 29 (1), p. 19-22.

Hearn, E.H., and Humphreys, E.D., 1998, Kinematics of the southern Walker Lane belt and motion of the Sierra Nevada block, California, J. Geophys. Res. 103 (B11), p. 27033-27049.

Henry, C.D., and Perkins, M.E., 2001, Sierra Nevada — Basin and Range transition near Reno, Nevada: two-stage development at 12 Ma and 3 Ma, Geology, v. 29 (8), p. 719-722.