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Constraints on Present-Day Basin and Range Deformation from Space Geodesy Timothy H University of South Florida Scholar Commons School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff School of Geosciences Publications 1995 Constraints on Present-Day Basin and Range Deformation from Space Geodesy Timothy H. Dixon University of Miami, [email protected] Stefano Robaudo University of Miami Jeffrey Lee California Institute of Technology Marith C. Reheis U.S. Geological Survey Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub Part of the Earth Sciences Commons Scholar Commons Citation Dixon, Timothy H.; Robaudo, Stefano; Lee, Jeffrey; and Reheis, Marith C., "Constraints on Present-Day Basin and Range Deformation from Space Geodesy" (1995). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 495. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/495 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Geosciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff ubP lications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TECTONICS, VOL. 14, NO. 4, ]'AGES 755-772, AUGUST 1995 Constraints on present-day Basin and Range deformation from space geodesy TimothyH. Dixonand Stefano Robaudo • RosenstielSchool of Marine and AtmosphericSciences, University of Miami Miami, Florida JeffreyLee 2 Division of Geologicaland Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology,Pasadena Marith C. Reheis U.S. GeologicalSurvey, Lakewood, Colorado Abstract. We use new spacegeodetic data from very long extension.A slip rate budgetfor major strike-slipfaults in baselineinterferometry and satellite laser ranging combined our studyarea based on a combinationof local geodeticor with other geodetic and geologic data to study late Quaternary geologic data and the regional space contemporarydeformation in the Basinand Range province geodeticdata suggeststhe following rates of right-lateral of the western United States. Northwest motion of the slip: Owens Valley fault zone, 3.9+1.1 mm/yr; Death central Sierra Nevada block relative to stable North Valley-FurnaceCreek fault zone, 3.3+2.2 mm/yr; White America, a measure of integrated Basin and Range Mountains fault zone in northernOwens Valley, 3.4+1.2 deformation,is 12.1+1.2 mm/yr orientedN38øW+5 ø (one mm/yr; Fish Lake Valley fault zone, 6.2+2.3 mm/yr. In the standarderror), in agreementwith previous geological last few million yearsthe locusof right-lateralshear in the estimateswithin uncertainties.This velocity reflectsboth regionhas shifted west andbecome more north trendingas east-west extension concentrated in the eastern Basin and slip on the northweststriking Death Valley-FurnaceCreek Range and north-northwestdirected right lateral shear faultzone has decreased and is increasinglyaccommodated concentratedin the westernBasin and Range. Ely, Nevada onthe north-northwest striking Owens Valley faultzone. is moving west at 4.9+1.3 mm/yr relativeto stableNorth America, consistentwith dip-slip motion on the north Introduction striking Wasatch fault and other north striking normal faults. Comparison with ground-basedgeodetic data It haslong been recognized that Basin and Range extension suggeststhat most of this motion is accommodatedwithin is an important componentof deformationwithin the N50 km of the Wasatch fault zone. Paleoseismic data for Pacific-NorthAmerica plate boundaryzone [Atwater, the Wasatchfault zone and slip rates based on seismic 1970]. In the last decadespace geodetic techniques have energyrelease in the regionboth suggestmuch lower slip helpedto clarifythe kinematicsof Basin and Range rates. The discrepancymay be explained by some deformationand its role in Pacific-NorthAmerica plate combinationof additional deformationaway from the interaction[Minster and •1ordan, 1984, 1987; Ward, 1990; Wasatchfault itself, aseismicslip, or a seismicrate that is Argus and Gordon, 1991]. There are neverthelesssome anomalouslylow with respectto longer time averages. remainingpuzzles. For example,why do recentspace Deformationin the westernBasin and Range provinceis geodeticestimates of the rotationvector describing Sierra also largelyconfined to a relativelynarrow boundary zone Nevadablock-stable North America relative motion [Argus and in our study area is partitioned into the eastern and Gordon,1991], a measureof integrateddeformation Californiashear zone, accommodating10.7+1.6 mm/yr of acrossthe Basin and Rangeprovince, differ in direction north-northwestdirected right-lateral shear, and a small fromgeological estimates of Basinand Range deformation component(-1 mm/yr) of west-southwest- east-northeast averagingover longertimes [Minsterand Jordan,1987; Wernicke,1988]? Does this imply rapid evolutionin deformationgeometry? Which faultsaccommodate surface •Nowat Ecology and Environment, Ft.Lauderdale, Florida. deformationassociated with the recentlyrecognized eastern 2Nowat Departmentof Geology,Central Washington California shear zone, and what is the total slip rate University, Ellensburg. [Sauberet al., 1986;Dokka and Travis,1990; Savage et al., 1990; Sauber et al., 1994]? What is the relation between the eastern California shear zone and overall Copyright1995 by the AmericanGeophysical Union. deformationof the Basin and Range? Is the Basin and Range province deforming as a continuum, or is Paper number 95TC00931. deformationlargely restricted to the boundaryzones? In 0278-7407/95/95TC-00931 $10.00 this paperwe addressthese questions with new space 755 756 DIXON ET AL.' BASIN AND RANGE DEFORMATION Excelsior Quaternary Faulting ' In"'•)'• Network ............ .......................... .... Western Boundary Zone ,•CratYers•. Central Basin & Range 0 20 40 60km I I I I \\ '<'\"*' •..ong Valley. • \" • •Caldera•] • Normalfault, ball on downthrown side • Strikeslip fault with sense ofshear '• Fault,slip oblique or unknown • M >6.0 Earthquakesince 1978 ii'•'}•: ........... Surface rupture 1872 earthquake .':iiii•:Sprin Significant present day deformation, Eastern -.• ..... :... '-:!::•: California shear zone Sierra .... E! Space geodetic site Nevada Block Owens Valley Trilateration Network Cottonwood Mountains 119 ø Towne [] ass ............................============================•..... BASIN Platteville AND Fault STABLE ave 36 o • [] Yuma PACIFIC • • • -- --NDavisFort PLATE •xico [] Figure 1. Major Quaternaryfaults and selectedearthquakes for the boundaryzone betweenthe Basin and Range province and the Sierra Nevada block near Owens Valley Radio Observatory(OVRO). Surface rapture of 1872 earthquakeand outline of Owens Valley and southernExcelsior trilateration networks [Savageand Lisowski, 1980, 1995] are also shown. Fault abbreviationsare DVFCFZ, Death Valley- FurnaceCreek fault zone; FLVF Fish Lake Valley fault; HSF, Hartly Springs fault; HCF, Hilton Cr•k fault, MLF, Mono Lake fault, RVF, Round Valley fault; SLF Silver Lake fault. SAF, San AndreasFault. Focal mechanismis shown for the May 17, 1993, Eureka Valley earthquakefrom Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) solution [Dziewonski et al., 1994]. Light stipple is postulatedsurface trace of major faults presentlyaccommodating the easternCalifornia shear zone. Inset shows location of most spacegeodetic sites used in thisstudy. Figure 1 is modifiedfrom Hill et al. [ 1985]and California Division of Mines and Geology[ 1992]. DIXON ET AL.: BASIN AND RANGE DEFORMATION 757 geodeticdata combined with other geodetic and geological presented by Dixon et al. [1993]. This paperexpands and data. updatesthe earlier interpretationand correctsan error in the uncertaintyassigned to the stationvelocities. The space geodetic data have two important Space Geodetic Data characteristics.First, they describedeformation relative to Previousspace geodetic studies of Basin and Range an external reference frame. This will allow us to link local deformation[ Ward, 1990; Argus and Gordon,1991 ] were deformationestimates based on geological and ground basedon very long baselineinterferometry (VLBI) data geodeticobservations to more regionaldata and processes. collectedby NASA's CrustalDynamics Project (CDP) up Second, they define integrateddeformation over a broad to the endof 1989. Our studyimproves on earlierstudies region. For example OVRO's velocity relative to stable byhaving a longertime span of dataand by incorporatingNorth America approximatesintegrated Basin and Range additionaldata types. We useVLBI datacollected by the deformation,absent only a small componentof extension CDP from 1979 to the end of 1991 (GLB 868) [Ryan et acrossthe easternSierra Nevada range front fault to the west al., 1993]and incorporate satellite laser ranging (SLR) data (Figure 1). The velocity of Ely defines integrated to the Lageossatellite from 1976 to the end of 1990 deformationacross the easternBasin and Range and by (Universityof Texas long arc solutionLLA 9101) vector differencewith OVRO provides informationon the [Watkins,1990]. Whereappropriate we alsoincorporate magnitude and style of present day deformationin the geologicalobservations and local ground geodetic data to westernBasin and Rangebetween OVRO and Ely. Thus helpinterpret the velocitiesof the spacegeodetic sites. we can describeBasin and Range deformationin a transect Thisallows us, for example,to betterrelate the velocityof roughly orthogonalto a small circle describingPacific- OwensValley Radio Observatory(OVRO), locatedin North Americamotion, connecting the Wasatchfront in the OwensValley east of theeastern Sierra Nevada range front easternBasin and Rangeto the San Andreasfault
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