CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SIERRA NEVADA DIGITAL EARTH SCIENCE ATLAS: A DIGITAL COMPILATIONOF NEOTECTONIC FEATURES

As part of the project on the Sierra Nevada Digital Earth Science Atlas (SNDESA), we have developed a digital database of neotectonic features in the Sierra Nevada region, compiled at 1:400,000 scale. This geospatial database includes several feature classes of different neotectonics elements. Quaternary faults were compiled primarily from the California Geological Survey’s Quaternary fault database and geologic mapping in western Nevada by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, including updates to Quaternary fault mapping. The fault feature class, developed for geoscience practitioners, includes fault traces, with information on original mapping source, original scale of mapping, and characteristics of the faults such as age of activity and sense of slip. In addition, we have developed a subset of simplified major faults that may be of interest to the layperson. The neotectonic features database also includes seismicity within the region. The seismicity feature class has been compiled from publicly available instrumental catalogs, as well as published and unpublished compilations of pre-instrumental historical earthquakes. Point features representing thermal springs have been included from an earlier unpublished compilation by the California Geological Survey. Point features representing active volcanic centers have been compiled from data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey California Volcano Observatory (USGS CalVO).