MAGNITUDE OF STRIKE-SLIP DISPLACEMENT ALONG THE SOUTHERN DEATH VALLEY-FURNACE CREEK FAULT ZONE, DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

The Furnace Creek fault zone (FCFZ), in its entirety, extends from the Amorgosa Valley in Eastern California northwestward continuously about 200 km and terminates in the Fish Lake Valley in Nevada. It is a part of the Eastern California Shear Zone. The southern segment of the FCFZ extends from the Furnace Creek area in Death Valley southeastward and is usually referred to as the Southern Death Valley-Furnace Creek fault zone (SDV-FCFZ). Although the right-lateral sense of strike-slip movement along the SDV-FCFZ fault is undisputed, the magnitude of displacement remains controversial because of the absence of the same geological lines on the northeast and southwestern sides of the SDV-FCFZ. The northeastern side contains several structural features which were formed prior to the Late Cenozoic extension. The southwestern side is covered by the Late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks of the Furnace Creek Basin.

We have established piercing points on the southwestern and northeastern sides of the SDV-FCFZ. The Clery Thrust of the southern Funeral Mountains is located on the northeastern side of SDV-FCFZ and brings the Cambrian Bonanza King Formation over the Eureka Quartzite and Ely Spring Dolomite in the southern Funeral Mountains. A similar structural relationship is observed in isolated outcrops below the basalts of the Artist Drive Formation in the Desolation Canyon area on the southwestern side of the SDV-FCFZ. There, the Bonanza King Formation is brought into structural contact over the Ely Spring Dolomite and Eureka Quartzite suggesting the presence of a thrust fault. This thrust may also be related to the nearby Badwater Turtleback which has been recently interpreted as a reactivated thrust by Miller (2002). We suggest that the thrust fault in the Desolation Canyon area is the continuation of the Clery Thrust of the southern Funeral Mountains. If this interpretation is correct, the strike-slip displacement along the SDV-FCFZ is about 30 +/- 5 km.