TECTONICS OF THE NORTHERN KIT FOX HILLS, DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

The Kit Fox Hills, Death Valley, California are the highest and most continuous pressure ridge formed along the Quaternary right-lateral Northern Death Valley fault zone (NDVFZ). The northern Kit Fox Hills are composed of the Tertiary-Quaternary Furnace Creek Formation, which consists of alternating beds of sandstones and mudstones with sparse breccias and tephra beds overlain by four different age alluvial-fan deposits. Geologic mapping and structural data identify folds with trends sub-parallel and near the NDVFZ; normal faults, found toward the northeastern margin of the hills away from the NDVFZ, have a curvilinear strike, which is consistent with simple shear deformation. The deformation of the Kit Fox Hills fits neither a simple nor a pure shear model perfectly. Structural data are consistent with low shear strength rock in the earliest stages of simple shear deformation. The Kit Fox Hills lack the right lateral Riedel shears found in the Confidence Hills of southern Death Valley; however, there are structurally similarities suggesting that a possible flower structure formed by the joining of the NDVFZ (southwest side) and an unnamed fault (northeast side) exists at depth . Several problems remain unresolved, including the trace of the secondary folds and faults at a larger scale; and the characteristics of the unnamed fault to the northeast.