NEW RATES OF PLEISTOCENE SLIP ON THE DEATH VALLEY FAULT

A combination of airborne imagery and terrestrial cosmogenic and optically stimulated luminescence dating of offset alluvial fans provide new rates of dextral slip on the Death Valley Fault in southeastern California. The Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) takes up ~20% of strain resulting from the convergence of Pacific and North American plates. Running parallel to the San Andreas Fault, the Death Valley-Fish Lake Valley Fault Zone accommodates a significant amount of strain within the ECSZ. Quantified slip rates on this fault system are necessary to fully understand the mechanics of faulting in the ECSZ, as well as to provide constraints on motion on the fault proper. This work gives new rates of slip from the southern Death Valley Fault, calculated from offset fan surfaces west of the Funeral Mountains in Death Valley National Park. Displacement is determined using airborne laser swath mapping data (LiDAR); terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide (10Be) and optically stimulated luminescence dating provide maximum offset ages for the studied fan.