Structural, tectonic and Quaternary study of the eastern Madeline Plains, California and southwestern Smoke Creek Desert, Nevada

Abstract

A structural, tectonic and Quaternary study of the eastern Madeline Plains (MP) and southwestern Smoke Creek Desert (SCD) in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada indicates that: 1) the Likely fault zone (LFZ) may be the northeastern limit of the Walker Lane (WL), 2) the WL appears to step right to the LFZ in the eastern Honey Lake Valley (HLV)/southwestern SCD area of California and Nevada, 3) a structural block defined by the Honey Lake Fault (HLF) and the northern extension of the WL on the west, easternmost HLV/southwestern SCD on the south, and the LFZ, Dry Valley-Smoke Creek Ranch fault zone (DV-SCRFZ) and the Bonham Ranch fault zone (BRFZ) on the east may be migrating toward the northwest, and 4) eastern HLV and southwestern SCD may be a young pul 1 - apart basin forming along the trailing edge of the northwest migrating block. Pluvial deposits of <5,000 years have been displaced along the LFZ in eastern MP. Pluvial deposits of <12,000 years have been displaced along the right-oblique-slip DV-SCRFZ and BRFZ in southwestern SCD. Fault scarp profiles along the BRFZ show two tectonic events in the past 12,000 years; the most recent occurred about 290 ± 70 years B.P. This event resulted in about 40 km of surface rupture length and a maximum of 2.9 m of vertical displacement. Surface magnitudes of Ms 7.0 and Ms 7.3 for the 290 ± 70 years B.P. event were estimated using the regression curves, respectively, of Slemmons and others (1989) and Bonilla and others (1984).