2009 Portland GSA Annual Meeting (18-21 October 2009)

Paper No. 11
Presentation Time: 10:45 AM

NEW RATES OF PLEISTOCENE SLIP ON THE DEATH VALLEY FAULT


REYNHOUT, Scott, Geology, University of Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati, 500 Geology/Physics, Cincinnati, OH 45220, OWEN, Lewis A., Geology, University of Cincinnati, 500 Geology/Physics, Cincinnati, OH 45221, FRANKEL, Kurt L., School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, FINKEL, Robert, Earth and Planetary Science Department, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, DOLAN, James F., Dept Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740 and KNOTT, Jeffrey R., Department of Geological Sciences, California State Univ, Fullerton, Box 6850, Fullerton, CA 92834, scott.a.reynhout@gmail.com

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.