interseismic strain accumulation and the earthquake potential on the southern san andreas fault system the southern section of the san andreas fault is the only part of the fault that hasn t ruptured in historic times for this reason it is believed to pose the largest seismic risk in california although whether tectonic stress is actually accumulating there is a topic of heated debate using data from radar interferometry satellites yuri fialko has produced a detailed map of surface deformation in the area that shows that elastic stress is accumulating at a fairly high rate during the past 300 years a displacement of 6 to 9 metres has built up this suggests that the southern san andreas fault is nearing the end of the interseismic phase of the earthquake cycle and that increased seismic activity of some kind can be expected the san andreas fault in california is a mature continental transform fault that accommodates a significant fraction of motion between the north american and pacific plates the two most recent great earthquakes on this fault ruptured its northern and central sections in 1906 and 1857 respectively the southern section of the fault however has not produced a great earthquake in historic times for at least 250 years assuming the average slip rate of a few centimetres per year typical of the rest of the san andreas fault the minimum amount of slip deficit accrued on the southern section is of the order of 7 10 metres comparable to the maximum co seismic offset ever documented on the fault1 2 here i present high resolution measurements of interseismic deformation across the southern san andreas fault system using a well populated catalogue of space borne synthetic aperture radar data the data reveal a nearly equal partitioning of deformation between the southern san andreas and san jacinto faults with a pronounced asymmetry in strain accumulation with respect to the geologically mapped fault traces the observed strain rates confirm that the southern section of the san andreas fault may be approaching the end of the interseismic phase of the earthquake cycle

mobile sounding observations of a thunderstorm near the dryline the gruver texas storm complex of 25 may 1987 abstract during the afternoon of 25 may 1987 thunderstorms some of which were tornadic and produced large hail formed near a dryline in the texas panhandle this note discusses a sounding released into the updraft of a developing cumulonimbus south of gruver texas by a university of oklahoma storn intercept team the sounding indicated a nearly pseudo moist adiabatic lapse rate a temperature excess of 4 6 c over the environment at 500 mb and updraft speeds of 35 40 m s 1between 6 and 7 km agl in good agreement with parcel theory a radar observed fine line appeared along the dryline and retreated westward as was also noted in two earlier case studies

evidence for prehistoric earthquakes on the superstition hills fault from offset geomorphic features offset geomorphic features along the superstition hills fault show evidence for at least one slip event prior to the 1987 surface rupture and possibly as many as four to five earlier prehistoric earthquakes we documented several geomorphic features that appeared offset by multiple events by making detailed topographic maps offset features were abundant along reaches of the fault with high topographic relief and large displacement slip distribution for the penultimate event as recorded by offset rills streams and shrub coppice dunes is very similar to the slip distribution from the 1987 earthquake through april 1988 this similarity may prove to be fortuitous if afterslip from the 1987 event continues to increase the total slip for this earthquake but if afterslip associated with the 1987 event ceases in the near future then the past two earthquakes were nearly identical in slip and the superstition hills fault may be expected to produce characteristic earthquakes of roughly magnitude 6

slip distribution fault geometry and fault segmentation of the 1944 bolu gerede earthquake rupture north anatolian fault turkey the 1944 bolu gerede earthquake m s 7 3 occurred along the north anatolian fault in northern turkey and ruptured for about 180 km of the fault the surface slip distribution and fault geometry which provide fundamental data on detailed fault segmentation and recurrence of faulting during a multisegment rupture are poorly known for this event we conducted geomorphological and geological investigations and eyewitness interviews to determine cumulative offsets through several earthquake cycles the 1944 rupture comprised five fault segments based on slip distribution and fault step overs and bends from west to east they are called the bolu yenicaga gerede ismetpasa and bayramoren segments the segments were 21 to 46 km long and the average slip was 1 9 4 3 m similar to well examined segments of the 1999 izmit rupture in contrast the fault jogs were relatively small suggesting that the 1944 earthquake rupture process was relatively smooth and of short duration proposed fault segmentation is consistent with the extent of surface ruptures and damage intensity associated with historical earthquakes in 967 1035 and 1050 a d historical records indicate that the bolu and yenicaga segments ruptured in 967 a d and the gerede ismetpasa and possibly bayramoren segments ruptured in 1035 a d therefore the 1944 rupture occurred as a consequence of multisegment rupture which consists of at least two distinct earthquake segments along the gerede segment which slipped 3 to 6 m in 1944 cumulative offsets of 6 to 25 m were observed these offsets are double triple and quadruple multiples of the 1944 slip implying a similar slip distribution during the four most recent large earthquakes along this segment and supporting the concept of characteristic slip even though the rupture length varied greatly during the last four earthquake cycles

rupture patterns and preshocks of large earthquakes in the southern san jacinto fault zone we relocated the large 1937 1942 and 1954 earthquakes in the san jacinto fault zone the epicenters of the main shocks aftershocks and some preshocks were determined using empirical station corrections from recent small events in the study areas the 1937 ml 5 9 earthquake has an epicenter between the surface traces of the san jacinto and buck ridge faults and aftershocks suggest about 7 km of rupture predominantly to the northwest a significant increase in small earthquake activity occurred about formula yr before this event the 1954 m l 6 2 earthquake is located at the southeast end of the mapped trace of the san jacinto fault and aftershocks suggest about 15 km of rupture further southeast into an area of folded young sediments with no surface fault trace this event was preceded by a cluster of small earthquakes which occurred within an 8 hr period 10 weeks before the main event and in the eventual rupture zone the 1942 m l 6 3 earthquake is located southwest of the southeast end of the coyote creek fault large aftershocks of this event are spread over a 15 by 18 km area southwest of the coyote creek fault and are not associated with any one fault the relation of the 1942 event to the san jacinto fault zone is not simple

roughness at the base of the seismogenic zone contributing factors the cutout depth of microseismic activity in continental fault zones appears to correspond to the onset of greenschist metamorphic conditions at about 300 c it can generally be modeled as the transition from frictional to quasi plastic behavior in quartzofeldspathic crust shear resistance increases with depth through the frictional regime to peak at the transition beneath which it falls off exponentially with increasing temperature larger earthquake ruptures ml 5 5 nucleate around this transition depth where the highest concentrations of strain energy may accumulate varying depth and amplitude of the peak shear resistance along strike induce fluctuations in strain energy concentration at the base of the seismogenic zone factors affecting the depth of the transition include crustal composition geometry and mode of faulting fluid pressure levels in the frictional regime and water content in the quasi plastic regime quasi plastic strain rate and geothermal gradient evaluation of their relative importance is complicated because several are interdependent however compositional change may cause abrupt irregularities in seismogenic depth and peak shear resistance while regional variations in heat flow look to be particularly effective in creating long wavelength heterogeneities in strain energy concentration affecting faulting style

surface rupture and slip distribution along the lenglongling fault in the ne tibetan plateau implications for faulting behavior abstract the lenglongling fault lllf is located in the western section of the tianzhu seismic gap along the qilian haiyuan fault zone in the ne tibetan plateau between the 1920 m8 5 haiyuan and the 1927 m8 0 gulang earthquakes there is little information about the paleoseismic history of the lllf and understanding the faulting history of the lllf is important for determining the seismic hazards of both the fault and the seismic gap using uav based photogrammetry high resolution satellite imagery and field investigations we mapped the surface trace of the fault in detail and measured 192 left lateral offsets of geomorphic markers along the fault trace a binned cumulative offset probability density copd distribution was calculated to analyze single event and multi event cumulative offsets as a result we find that the lllf has fresh scarps along the entire 120 km length indicating that the most recent event might have ruptured the full segment of the fault the coseismic offset of the most recent event changes along the fault trace and has an asymmetrical bell shaped distribution the maximum offset was 7 m located in the middle eastern section of the fault and the offset decreases progressively towards both ends the minimum offset located at the western end was 3 0 m and the average coseismic offset was 4 8 m the cumulative offsets of the four most recent paleoearthquakes are multiples of the coseismic offset of the most recent event and show similar slip distributions indicating that the fault ruptures with a characteristic slip the fault slip distribution estimated recurrence interval and estimated moment magnitude imply that the lllf releases accumulated strain energy mainly by repeatedly producing mw 7 5 7 8 earthquakes every 1000 200 years we also show that the binned copd technique performs well to separate single event and multi event cumulative offsets

variable rates of late quaternary strike slip on the san jacinto fault zone southern california three strike slip displacements of strata with known approximate ages have been measured at two locations on the san jacinto fault zone minimum horizontal offset between 5 7 and 8 6 km in no more than 0 73 m y northeast of anza indicates 8 12 mm yr average slip rate since late pleistocene time two measures of more recent displacement are based on trenching studies of stratigraphic offsets on the coyote creek fault in western imperial valley horizontal slip of 1 7 m has been calculated for the youngest sediment of lake cahuilla since its deposition 275 510 yr b p the corresponding slip rate is 2 8 5 0 mm yr right lateral offset of 10 9 m measured on a buried stream channel older than 5060 yr b p but younger than 6820 yr b p yields average slip rates for the intermediate time periods 400 to 6000 yr b p of 1 2 mm yr the average rates of slip for these three time intervals suggest a relatively quiescent period for the san jacinto fault zone from about 4000 b c to about 1600 a d to the extent that long term variations in seismic activity of major strike slip faults elsewhere are known fluctuations in slip rate for the san jacinto fault would not appear to be abnormal if the san jacinto and adjacent segments of the san andreas fault alternately assume dominant roles in absorbing motion between the pacific and american plates perhaps even more recently than 400 yr ago the san andreas fault south of the transverse ranges expressed most of the motion but has since become relatively inactive

new empirical relationships among magnitude rupture length rupture width rupture area and surface displacement source parameters for historical earthquakes worldwide are compiled to develop a series of empirical relationships among moment magnitude m surface rupture length subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width rupture area and maximum and average displacement per event the resulting data base is a significant update of previous compilations and includes the additional source parameters of seismic moment moment magnitude subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width and average surface displacement each source parameter is classified as reliable or unreliable based on our evaluation of the accuracy of individual values only the reliable source parameters are used in the final analyses in comparing source parameters we note the following trends 1 generally the length of rupture at the surface is equal to 75 of the subsurface rupture length however the ratio of surface rupture length to subsurface rupture length increases with magnitude 2 the average surface displacement per event is about one half the maximum surface displacement per event and 3 the average subsurface displacement on the fault plane is less than the maximum surface displacement but more than the average surface displacement thus for most earthquakes in this data base slip on the fault plane at seismogenic depths is manifested by similar displacements at the surface log linear regressions between earthquake magnitude and surface rupture length subsurface rupture length and rupture area are especially well correlated showing standard deviations of 0 25 to 0 35 magnitude units most relationships are not statistically different at a 95 significance level as a function of the style of faulting thus we consider the regressions for all slip types to be appropriate for most applications regressions between magnitude and displacement magnitude and rupture width and between displacement and rupture length are less well correlated and have larger standard deviation than regressions between magnitude and length or area the large number of data points in most of these regressions and their statistical stability suggest that they are unlikely to change significantly in response to additional data separating the data according to extensional and compressional tectonic environments neither provides statistically different results nor improves the statistical significance of the regressions regressions for cases in which earthquake magnitude is either the independent or the dependent parameter can be used to estimate maximum earthquake magnitudes both for surface faults and for subsurface seismic sources such as blind faults and to estimate the expected surface displacement along a fault for a given size earthquake

temporal and spatial variability of the sediment grain size distribution on the eel shelf the flood layer of 1995 abstract sediment grain size characteristics observed on the eel shelf have been analyzed using a wet sieving technique that minimizes breakage of aggregates at several sites on the 70 m isobath north of the river where a 1995 flood layer attained a maximum thickness of about 9 cm replicate box cores were collected on seven cruises during february 1995 to january 1997 these samples provide a unique opportunity to follow the evolution of a flood layer over a two year period as it was modified and gradually buried one month after the flood a layer of tan colored high porosity sediment with up to 96 of its particles in the size range of 0 20 m had accumulated on the central part of the shelf 7 30 km north of the river and principally between the 50 m and 90 m isobaths substantial coarsening of this layer occurred between february 1995 and may 1995 particularly along the southern and the landward edge of the deposit in water depths of

late quaternary rate of slip along the san jacinto fault zone near anza southern california the anza section of the san jacinto fault southern california has not experienced a groundbreaking earthquake since at least 1918 and probably since before 1899 leading previous workers to designate this 20 km long fault segment as a seismic gap study of displaced pleistocene and holocene alluvial fan and fluvial deposits across the san jacinto fault near anza california dated using 14c and soil development age control indicates a minimum right lateral slip rate of 9 2 2 mm yr since 9 5 ka and a slip rate of 11 9 5 mm yr since 14 ka 12 9 5 mm yr since 17 ka and 13 10 6 mm yr since 50 ka these estimates agree with a previously determined 700 ka to present minimum slip rate of 10 2 mm yr based on an estimated average slip rate of 12 mm yr from the longer term slip rate estimates about 0 8 m of potential slip has accumulated if the 1918 earthquake broke the anza segment over 1 1 m of potential slip has accumulated if the last earthquake occurred prior to 1899 these data attest to the potential for an earthquake m6 5 for this section of the fault

coseismic slip variation assessed from terrestrial lidar scans of the el mayor cucapah surface rupture abstract we analyze high resolution 103 points m2 terrestrial lidar surveys of the 4 april 2010 el mayor cucapah earthquake rupture baja california mexico collected at three sites 12 18 days after the event using point cloud based tools in an immersive visualization environment we quantify coseismic fault slip for hundreds of meters along strike and construct densely constrained along strike slip distributions from measurements of offset landforms uncertainty bounds for each offset determined empirically by repeatedly measuring offsets at each site sequentially illuminate measurement uncertainties that are difficult to quantify in the field these uncertainties are used to define length scales over which variability in slip distributions may be assumed to reflect either recognizable earthquake mechanisms or measurement noise at two sites characterized by 2 3 m of concentrated right oblique slip repeat measurements yield 2 uncertainties of 11 12 each site encompasses 200 m along strike and a smoothed linear slip gradient satisfies all measurement distributions implying along fault strains of 10 3 conversely the common practice of defining the slip curve by the local slip maxima distorts the curve overestimates along fault strain and may overestimate actual fault slip by favoring measurements with large positive uncertainties at a third site characterized by 1 2 5 m of diffuse normal slip repeat measurements of fault throw summed along fault perpendicular profiles yield 2 uncertainties of 17 here a low order polynomial fit through the measurement averages best approximates surface slip however independent measurements of off fault strain accommodated by hanging wall flexure suggest that over the 200 m length of this site a linear interpolation through the average values for the slip maxima at either end of this site most accurately represents subsurface displacement in aggregate these datasets show that given uncertainties of greater than 11 2 slip distributions over shorter scales are likely to be less uneven than those derived from a single set of field or lidar based measurements this suggests that the relatively smooth slip curves we obtain over 102 m distances reflect real physical phenomena whereas short wavelength variability over 100 101 m distances can be attributed to measurement uncertainty

segmentation of the northern san jacinto fault zone southern california accurate forecasting of large earthquakes in the san jacinto fault zone depends on the correct determination of fault segmentation we have searched for discontinuities in the fault zone using as data geological maps of the fault traces relocated earthquake hypocenters focal mechanisms slip rates and historic large earthquake rupture zones we identify nine principal discontinuities in the northern san jacinto fault zone these are characterized as structural discontinuities bends steps branches intersections geodetic discontinuities slip rate and lithologic discontinuities most of the discontinuities have more than one defining characteristic we also analyzed the local strain field orientation along the fault zone significant lateral discontinuities in the strain field orientation are coincident with many of the structural and geodetic discontinuities we identify segment lengths defined from the data vary from about 7 to 35 km this range of segment lengths is consistent with the lengths of large historical earthquake ruptures however evidence from small earthquake hypocenter patterns suggests the possibility that in some areas large earthquakes may rupture multiple adjacent segments in these cases maximum magnitudes may be larger than those observed historically because of the short historic record and the sparse paleoseismic record probabilistic estimates of earthquake recurrence for this fault zone have depended heavily on assumed characteristic lengths of individual rupture segments ours and previous delineations of segment lengths have varied considerably indicating that assumed segment length is a major source of uncertainty in the recurrence calculations this source of uncertainty should be taken into account in calculations of the reliability of the probabilistic hazard estimates

new kinematic models for pacific north america motion from 3 ma to present i evidence for steady motion and biases in the nuvel 1a model we use velocities derived from 2 4 5 years of continuous gps observations at 21 sites on the pacific and north american plates along with a subset of the nuvel 1a data to examine the steadiness of pacific north america motion since 3 16 ma the transfer of baja california to the pacific plate and the magnitude of biases in the nuvel 1a estimate of pacific north america motion we find that pacific north america motion has remained steady since 3 16 ma but at rates significantly faster than predicted by nuvel 1a in the vicinity of baja california our gps derived model and recent seafloor spreading rates in the southern gulf of california both indicate that the nuvel 1a model underestimates pacific north america rates by 4 2 mm yr 1 steady pacific north america motion since 3 16 myr and increasing seafloor spreading rates since 3 58 myr in the gulf of california imply that pacific north america motion was partitioned between seafloor spreading in the gulf of california and decelerating slip along faults in or offshore from the baja peninsula

paleoseismic evidence for the 21 april 1918 mw 6 9 surface rupture of the northern clark strand of the central san jacinto fault california abstract in this study we present the results of a new paleoseismic investigation in the south fork wilderness 7 km southeast of blackburn canyon 5 km northwest of hog lake near anza california that demonstrate that the northern clark fault has ruptured twice in the past 300 yrs these new results corroborate previously made interpretations that were based solely on surficial geomorphology that the northern clark fault with a recurrence interval of 100 yrs ruptured in both the november 1800 and april 1918 earthquakes and has a more frequent recurrence interval than the central and southern clark fault

straightening of the northern san jacinto fault california as seen in the fault structure evolution of the san jacinto valley stepover abstract we investigate a releasing stepover between the casa loma and claremont strands of the northern san jacinto fault zone to evaluate the late quaternary structural evolution of the fault zone and to assess the likelihood of a rupture jumping across the stepover our new cone penetration test cpt and trench observations along the claremont fault at mystic lake indicate that the main strand of the claremont fault has jumped nearly a half kilometer westward into the san jacinto releasing stepover during the late quaternary multiple faults are inferred from the cpt data within a small sag at the northeast side of the stepover that cuts through younger stratigraphy to the west of the basin bounding fault near mystic lake previous seismic reflection data also suggest the presence of a young fault that cuts basin strata beneath the middle of mystic lake farther west of our study area numerous tectono geomorphic features observed in satellite and light detection and ranging digital elevation model lidar dem imagery are interpreted to delineate the location of the currently active faults including a zone of faults that cut across the basin from the northern end of the casa loma fault to the claremont fault seismicity observations suggest the presence of many faults within the stepover zone finally new paleoseismic data from the mystic lake site suggest that some late holocene earthquakes may have jumped the stepover all of these observations suggest that the san jacinto stepover which has been used as the primary basis for segmenting the northern san jacinto fault zone is being bypassed and that the fault zone may now be capable of larger earthquakes than previously expected

slip in the 1857 and earlier large earthquakes along the carrizo plain san andreas fault the moment magnitude mw 7 9 fort tejon earthquake of 1857 with a 350 kilometer long surface rupture was the most recent major earthquake along the south central san andreas fault california based on previous measurements of its surface slip distribution rupture along the 60 kilometer long carrizo segment was thought to control the recurrence of 1857 like earthquakes new high resolution topographic data show that the average slip along the carrizo segment during the 1857 event was 5 3 1 4 meters eliminating the core assumption for a linkage between carrizo segment rupture and recurrence of major earthquakes along the south central san andreas fault earthquake slip along the carrizo segment may recur in earthquake clusters with cumulative slip of 5 meters

3d_fault_offsets a matlab code to automatically measure lateral and vertical fault offsets in topographic data application to san andreas owens valley and hope faults measuring fault offsets preserved at the ground surface is of primary importance to recover earthquake and long term slip distributions and understand fault mechanics the recent explosion of high resolution topographic data such as lidar and photogrammetric digital elevation models offers an unprecedented opportunity to measure dense collections of fault offsets we have developed a new matlab code 3d fault offsets to automate these measurements in topographic data 3d fault offsets mathematically identifies and represents nine of the most prominent geometric characteristics of common sublinear markers along faults especially strike slip in 3 d such as the streambed minimum elevation top free face and base of channel banks or scarps minimum laplacian maximum gradient and maximum laplacian and ridges maximum elevation by calculating best fit lines through the nine point clouds on either side of the fault the code computes the lateral and vertical offsets between the piercing points of these lines onto the fault plane providing nine lateral and nine vertical offset measures per marker through a monte carlo approach the code calculates the total uncertainty on each offset it then provides tools to statistically analyze the dense collection of measures and to reconstruct the prefaulted marker geometry in the horizontal and vertical planes we applied 3d fault offsets to remeasure previously published offsets across 88 markers on the san andreas owens valley and hope faults we obtained 5 454 lateral and vertical offset measures these automatic measures compare well to prior ones field and remote while their rich record provides new insights on the preservation of fault displacements in the morphology

surficial offsets on the central and eastern garlock fault associated with prehistoric earthquakes geomorphic features offset along the central and eastern garlock fault record the amount of surface slip associated with prehistoric earthquakes along the easternmost 90 km of the fault the smallest offsets cluster around 2 3 m of left lateral slip apparently associated with the most recent earthquake on this portion of the fault larger offsets along this part of the fault especially in pilot knob valley cluster around values consistent with 2 4 m of slip in each of the past several events farther west south of el paso mountains offset geomorphic features suggest that each of the past two earthquakes on this stretch of the garlock fault was produced by about 7 m of slip whereas the third event back was produced by about 4 m of slip vertical displacements of geomorphic features range from 0 to 30 of the left lateral offsets within pilot knob valley along the southern side of the slate range vertical displacements are consistently up on the northern side whereas within the avawatz mountains both north and south side up vertical displacements are present on the basis of the geomorphic offsets the geometry of the garlock fault and the precedents set by historical strike slip earthquakes elsewhere a number of different rupture patterns are plausible these range from rupture of the entire garlock fault in a single event with a maximum magnitude of about mw 7 8 to separate rupture of the western segment and of the central and eastern segments combined with approximate magnitudes mw 1 1 and mw 7 5 respectively to separate rupture of even shorter segments producing earthquakes of magnitudes mw 6 6 to mw 7 5 in conjunction with available slip rates for the garlock fault the geomorphic offsets suggest that average recurrence intervals are probably within the range of 600 1200 years south of el paso mountains about 200 750 years in searles valley about 200 1300 years in pilot knob valley and about 200 3000 years near leach lake and in the avawatz mountains

a seismotectonic analysis of the anza seismic gap san jacinto fault zone southern california small earthquake epicenters near the anza seismic gap define a 20 km quiescent segment of fault bounded to the northwest and southeast by areas of relatively high seismicity recent moderate earthquakes on and near the san jacinto fault in the gap and their relatively depressed aftershock activity indicate that the fault is seismogenic and highly stressed but locked by some mechanism the locked nature of the fault may be due to relatively high compressive stress normal to the fault resulting from the convergent geometries of the local active discontinuous faults and the oblique orientation of the regional maximum compressive stress strain is not being relieved by aseismic fault creep a swarm of small earthquakes in the crustal block 13 km southwest of the anza gap beneath the cahuilla valley recently released stress in an area which was previously highly active before the 1918 m 6 8 and 1937 m l 6 0 earthquakes the occurrence of these periods of increased seismicity near cahuilla in the years immediately before the nearby closer than 35 km large earthquakes and the recent swarm suggest that the ground beneath cahuilla may be acting as a stress meter signaling the presence of high stresses before large local earthquakes the length of the quiescent fault segment suggests potential for about an m 6 5 earthquake if the entire segment ruptures at once

recovering paleoearthquake slip record in a highly dynamic alluvial and tectonic region hope fault new zealand from airborne lidar knowing the slip amplitudes that large earthquakes produced in prehistorical times is one key to anticipate the magnitude of large forthcoming events it is long known that the morphology is preserving remnants of paleoearthquake slips in the form of fault offset landforms however the measured offsets that can be attributed to the most recent paleoearthquakes are generally few along a fault so that they rarely allow recovering the slip distributions and largest slips of these earthquakes we acquired 1 m resolution airborne lidar data on a 30 km stretch of a fast slipping strike slip fault eastern hope fault new zealand located in a region of high alluvial dynamics where landforms are rapidly evolving data analysis reveals 200 offset landforms only 30 allow a good to moderate quality offset measurement from these good to moderate quality measures we recover the slip length distributions and largest slips of the four most recent large paleoearthquakes and find evidence of 4 6 prior events the record suggests that large earthquake slip recurred in multiples of about 4 m along the 30 km stretch although they have larger uncertainties the more numerous lower quality offsets that we also measured reveal a similar earthquake slip record this shows that although offset landforms are partly degraded in dynamically active landscapes they store valuable information on paleoearthquake slips this information might be recovered provided that the morphology is analyzed at high resolution and continuously over a significant fault length remote lidar data are powerful to perform such analyses

chapter 5 extension and contraction within an evolving divergent strike slip fault complex the san andreas and san jacinto fault zones at their convergence in southern california

seismic tomography of the southern california plate boundary region from noise based rayleigh and love waves we use cross correlations of ambient seismic noise between pairs of 158 broadband and short period sensors to investigate velocity structure over the top 5 10 km of the crust in the southern california plate boundary region around the san jacinto fault zone sjfz from the 9 component correlation tensors associated with all station pairs we derive dispersion curves of rayleigh and love wave group velocities the dispersion results are inverted first for rayleigh and love waves group velocity maps on a 1 5 1 5 km2 grid that includes portions of the sjfz the san andreas fault saf and the elsinore fault we then invert these maps to 3d shear wave velocities in the top 7 km of the crust the distributions of the rayleigh and love group velocities exhibit 2 azimuthal anisotropy with fast directions parallel to the main faults and rotations in complex areas the reconstructed 3d shear velocity model reveals complex shallow structures correlated with the main geological units and strong velocity contrasts across various fault sections along with low velocity damage zones and basins the sjfz is marked by a clear velocity contrast with higher v s values on the ne block for the section se of the san jacinto basin and a reversed contrast across the section between the san jacinto basin and the saf velocity contrasts are also observed along the southern parts on the saf and the elsinore fault with a faster southwest block in both cases the region around the salton trough is associated with a significant low velocity zone strong velocity reductions following flower shape with depth are observed extensively around both the sjfz and the saf and are especially prominent in areas of geometrical complexity in particular the area between the sjfz and the saf is associated with an extensive low velocity zone correlated with diffuse seismicity at depth and a similar pattern including correlation with deep diffuse seismicity is observed on a smaller scale in the trifurcation area of the sjfz these results augment local earthquake tomography images that have low resolution in the top few km of the crust and provide important constraints for studies concerned with behavior of earthquake ruptures generation of rock damage and seismic shaking hazard in the region

lidar and field observations of slip distribution for the most recent surface ruptures along the central san jacinto fault we measured offsets on tectonically displaced geomorphic features along 80 km of the clark strand of the san jacinto fault sjf to estimate slip per event for the past several surface ruptures we identify 168 offset features from which we make over 490 measurements using b4 light detection and ranging lidar imagery and field observations our results suggest that lidar technology is an exemplary supplement to traditional field methods in slip per event studies displacement estimates indicate that the most recent surface rupturing event mre produced an average of 2 5 2 9 m of right lateral slip with maximum slip of nearly 4 m at anza a m w 7 2 7 5 earthquake average multiple event offsets for the same 80 kms are 5 5 m with maximum values of 3 m at anza for the penultimate event cumulative displacements of 9 10 m through anza suggest the third event was also similar in size paleoseismic work at hog lake dates the most recent surface rupture event at ca 1790 a poorly located large earthquake occurred in southern california on 22 november 1800 we relocate this event to the clark fault based on the mre at hog lake we also recognize the occurrence of a younger rupture along 15 20 km of the fault in blackburn canyon with 1 25 m of average displacement we attribute these offsets to the 21 april 1918 m w 6 9 event these data argue that much or all of the clark fault and possibly also the casa loma fault fail together in large earthquakes but that shorter sections may fail in smaller events online material topographic contour maps and hillshades generated from b4 lidar data corresponding field photographs and data tables comparing lidar based and field based slip measurements for individual geomorphic features along the clark fault

surficial slip distribution on the central emerson fault during the june 28 1992 landers earthquake california we present the results of our mapping of a 5 6 km length of the central emerson fault that ruptured during the 1992 landers earthquake in the southwestern mojave desert california the right lateral slip along this portion of the rupture varied from about 150 to 530 cm along the main rupture zone in some locations a total of up to 110 cm of additional right lateral slip occurred on secondary faults up to 1 7 km away from the main rupture zone other secondary faults carried up to several tens of centimeters of left lateral or thrust displacement the maximum net vertical displacement was 175 cm east side up the sense of vertical slip across the main fault zone varied along strike but in most cases it was consistent with the sense of vertical slip in previous earthquakes as indicated by the locations of areas of older uplifted and abandoned alluvial fan surfaces although variations in surficial slip have been reported along previous strike slip ruptures our closely spaced slip measurements allow a much more detailed study of slip variability than was possible previously we document variations in slip as large as 1 m or more over distances ranging from 1 2 km to a few tens of meters suggesting that strains of the order of 10 1 may have occurred locally within the surficial sediments the long wavelength kilometer scale variations in surficial slip may be influenced by fault geometry and perhaps by the thickness of unconsolidated sediments the slip variations over shorter length scales tens of meters may be caused by variations in the proportion of the total shear that occurs on visible brittle fractures versus that which occurs as distributed shear warping or rotation the variability of slip along the ruptures associated with the landers earthquake calls for caution in interpreting geomorphic offsets along prehistoric fault ruptures

slip along the san andreas fault associated with the great 1857 earthquake historical records indicate that several meters of lateral slip along the san andreas fault accompanied the great 1857 earthquake in central and southern california these records together with dendrochronological evidence suggest that the rupture occurred along 360 to 400 km of the fault including several tens of kilometers of the currently creeping reach in central california geomorphic expressions of late holocene right lateral offsets are abundant along the 1857 rupture along 300 kilometers of the 1857 rupture between cholame and wrightwood the youngest discernible offset ranges from 3 to 9 1 2 meters dormancy of the fault since 1857 almost certainly indicates that this latest offset was created in 1857 fault slip apparently associated with the 1857 earthquake varies in a broadly systematic way along the trace of the fault it is relatively uniform along each of several long segments but changes rather abruptly in value between these segments this nonuniform displacement pattern may imply that some segments of the fault rupture more frequently or experience a slower long term slip rate than others the 1857 offsets indicate a seismic moment m o between 5 3 and 8 7 10 27 dyne cm assuming a 10 to 15 km depth of rupture and relatively uniform slip as a function of depth a comparison with the rupture length average slip value and tectonic setting of the california earthquake of 1906 m s 8 1 4 indicates a value of m 8 1 4 for the 1857 event

late quaternary slip rate gradient defined using high resolution topography and 10be dating of offset landforms on the southern san jacinto fault zone california 1 recent studies suggest the san jacinto fault zone may be the dominant structure accommodating pa na relative plate motion however because the late quaternary slip history of the southern san andreas fault system is insufficiently understood it is difficult to evaluate the partitioning of deformation across the plate boundary and its evolution landforms displaced by the clark fault of the southern san jacinto fault zone were mapped using high resolution airborne laser swath topography and selected offset landforms were dated using cosmogenic 10be beheaded channels at rockhouse canyon displaced by 500 70 m and 220 70 m have been dated to 47 8 ka and 28 9 ka respectively farther south near the southern santa rosa mountains an alluvial deposit displaced by 51 9 m has been dated to 35 7 ka from these sites the slip rate of the clark fault is determined to diminish southward from 8 9 2 0 to 1 5 0 4 mm yr this implies a slip rate decrease along the clark fault from anza southeastward to its surface termination near the salton trough where slip is transferred to the coyote creek fault and additional deformation is compensated by folding and thrusting in the basin these data suggest that since 30 to 50 ka the slip rate along the southern san jacinto fault zone has been lower than or equivalent to the rate along the southernmost san andreas fault accordingly either the slip rate of the san jacinto fault has substantially decreased since fault initiation or fault slip began earlier than previously suggested

historic earthquakes 1918 to 1923 and an assessment of source parameters along the san jacinto fault system body waveform modeling is used to determine the source parameters of two earthquakes that occurred along the northern san jacinto fault system in 1918 and 1923 the 1918 earthquake parameters are consistent with a 20 to 25 km rupture along the claremont fault at a depth of 7 5 km limited data for the 1923 event are more consistent with rupture on the san jacinto fault than rupture along the san andreas fault or a buried cross fault although the greatest damage associated with the earthquake occurred closer to the san andreas fault using the results of this study and previous studies of historic earthquakes along the southern san jacinto fault the relationships between rupture length and magnitude focal depth and heat flow and other parameters are examined in an effort to estimate the source properties of future events that are expected along currently quiescent portions of the fault zone one important observation is that rupture lengths along the san jacinto fault are shorter for an equivalent moment magnitude than those along the imperial valley mexicali fault system the higher heat flow of the imperial valley region may be responsible for this difference

internal structure of the san jacinto fault zone at blackburn saddle from seismic data of a linear array local and teleseismic earthquake waveforms recorded by a 180 m long linear array bb with seven seismometers crossing the clark fault of the san jacinto fault zone northwest of anza are used to image a deep bimaterial interface and core damage structure of the fault delay times of p waves across the array indicate an increase in slowness from the southwest most bb01 to the northeast most bb07 station automatic algorithms combined with visual inspection and additional analyses are used to identify local events generating fault zone head and trapped waves the observed fault zone head waves imply that the clark fault in the area is a sharp bimaterial interface with lower seismic velocity on the southwest side the moveout between the head and direct p arrivals for events within 40 km epicentral distance indicates an average velocity contrast across the fault over that section and the top 20 km of 3 2 per cent a constant moveout for events beyond 40 km to the southeast is due to off fault locations of these events or because the imaged deep bimaterial interface is discontinuous or ends at that distance the lack of head waves from events beyond 20 km to the northwest is associated with structural complexity near the hemet stepover events located in a broad region generate fault zone trapped waves at stations bb04 bb07 waveform inversions indicate that the most likely parameters of the trapping structure are width of 200 m s velocity reduction of 30 40 per cent with respect to the bounding blocks q value of 10 20 and depth of 3 5 km the trapping structure and zone with largest slowness are on the northeast side of the fault the observed sense of velocity contrast and asymmetric damage across the fault suggest preferred rupture direction of earthquakes to the northwest this inference is consistent with results of other geological and seismological studies

source characteristics of earthquakes along the southern san jacinto and imperial fault zones 1937 to 1954 abstract body waveform inversion techniques are used to study the source parameters of four earthquakes occurring between 1937 and 1954 along the southern san jacinto and imperial faults 1937 buck ridge 1940 imperial valley 1942 borrego mountain and 1954 salada wash events all earthquakes had simple rupture histories with the exception of the 1940 imperial valley main shock which consisted of at least four subevents whose relative locations indicate unilateral rupture toward the southeast earthquakes in regions of high heat flow 80 mw m 2 had focal depths near the base of the seismogenic zone 8 to 10 km the 1937 buck ridge earthquake located in a region of lower heat flow however appears to have occurred at a shallow 3 2 km depth the location mechanism and aftershock distribution for the 1942 borrego mountain earthquake suggest it could have occurred along the split mountain fault a recently identified northeast trending cross fault located between the elsinore and coyote creek faults or along an unnamed fault that parallels the trend of the coyote creek fault moment and rupture length estimates obtained from this study agree well with estimates obtained in previous studies that used different data sets

the repetition of large earthquake ruptures abstract this survey of well documented repeated fault rupture confirms that some faults have exhibited a characteristic behavior during repeated large earthquakes that is the magnitude distribution and style of slip on the fault has repeated during two or more consecutive events in two cases faults exhibit slip functions that vary little from earthquake to earthquake in one other well documented case however fault lengths contrast markedly for two consecutive ruptures but the amount of offset at individual sites was similar adjacent individual patches 10 km or more in length failed singly during one event and in tandem during the other more complex cases of repetition may also represent the failure of several distinct patches the faults of the 1992 landers earthquake provide an instructive example of such complexity together these examples suggest that large earthquakes commonly result from the failure of one or more patches each characterized by a slip function that is roughly invariant through consecutive earthquake cycles the persistence of these slip patches through two or more large earthquakes indicates that some quasi invariant physical property controls the pattern and magnitude of slip these data seem incompatible with theoretical models that produce slip distributions that are highly variable in consecutive large events