Collaborative Research: Late Cenozoic To Recent Fault Slip Distribution in the Central Walker Lane Belt, Western Nevada

Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will support the investigation of the dynamics of a system ofintraplate faults in the southern part of the central Walker Lane belt, known as the Mina deflection, using an integrated approach of field mapping, tectonic geomorphology, paleoseismology, thermochronology, and geochronology. Faults within the Mina deflection define a regional-scale releasing bend that transfers slip from the Eastern California Shear Zone to the Walker Lane Belt. The Eastern California Shear Zone and Walker Lane Belt straddle the boundary between dominantly east-west extension in the Basin and Range province to the east and dominantly NW-shear along the Pacific-North American plate boundary to the west. The interaction between extension and transcurrent shear has resulted in the development of a complex array of faults that accommodate intraplate strain. The research is motivated in large part by ongoing geodetic investigations on the magnitude of present-day strain accumulation and pattern of strain distribution across the Eastern California Shear Zone and Walker Lane Belt. In light of these geodetic constraints on strain accumulation, it is timely to improve our understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of strain release during late Cenozoic to Recent times. The two data sets will provide important constraints on geodynamic hypotheses proposed for the evolution of the Eastern California Shear Zone and Walker Lane Belt. An accurate characterization of the temporal and spatial strain distribution within the Eastern California Shear Zone and Walker Lane Belt is crucial for understanding tectonic processes over a much broader area of intraplate deformation associated with the interaction between the Pacific and North American plates.