Late Pleistocene fault slip rate, earthquake recurrence, and recency of slip along the Pyramid Lake fault zone, northern Walker Lane, United States

Abstract

[1] Up to 25% of Pacific-North America plate relative transform motion is accommodated east of the Sierra Nevada. Most of that 25% is taken up by deformation in the Walker Lane, a discontinuous zone of strike-slip and normal faults approximately parallel to the San Andreas. The Pyramid Lake fault zone is a northwest trending right-lateral fault in the northern Walker Lane, Nevada. Recent geodetic surveys report 6 ± 2 mm/year of right-lateral shear strain accumulation across the northern Walker Lane. Interpretation of displaced geomorphic features preserved in post-Lake Lahontan ($15,500 cal. yr B.P.) surfaces indicate the Pyramid Lake fault zone has accommodated at least 2.6 ± 0.3 mm/year of right-lateral shear during the late Pleistocene. Additionally, a minimum of two earthquakes have occurred since deposition of the Mazama tephra ($7630 cal. yr B.P.), and at least four earthquakes have occurred on the fault after desiccation of Lake Lahontan ($15.5 ka), with the most recent earthquake occurring after 1705 ± 175 cal. yr B.P. The observations indicate that the Pyramid Lake fault zone accommodates the major portion (!25%-70%) of right-lateral slip east of the Sierra Nevada at the latitude of $39°45 0 N.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene Paleoearthquake Activity of the Olinghouse Fault Zone, Nevada

“…Triggered slip on conjugate strike-slip faults has been documented for several historical North American interior earthquakes, including the 1987 Superstition Hills/Elmore Ranch (Magistrale et al, 1989;Hudnut et al, 1989;Sharp et al, 1989), the 1994 Double Springs Flat (Ichinose et al, 1998;Amelung and Bell, 2003), and the 1986 Chalfant Valley (Cockerham and Corbett, 1987;Smith and Priestly, 2000) events. Although the resolution of our paleoseismic data do not allow positive identification of a triggered earthquake, comparison of the composite paleoseismic record for the Pyramid Lake fault zone (Briggs and Wesnousky, 2004) with the record obtained here for trenches 1-3 shows that one or more recent earthquake ruptures may have occurred close in time on both faults (Fig. 9).…”

“…2), leading us to suggest that the cluster of recent earthquakes at the eastern end of the Olinghouse fault zone reflects interaction with the conjugate Pyramid Lake fault. The northwest-striking, right-lateral strike-slip Pyramid Lake fault zone has been the location of at least four earthquakes since ϳ15.5 ka (Anderson and Hawkins, 1984;Briggs and Wesnousky, 2004) (Fig. 9).…”

Slip rate variations on faults in the Basin-and-Range Province caused by regression of Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville and Lake Lahontan

“…Additional pre-Holocene earthquakes may have occurred on the Wassuk fault between 10 and 13 ka (Adams et al 1999) and on the Humboldt fault at *35 ka (Wesnousky et al 2005). In case of the Honey Lake and Pyramid Lake strike-slip faults, at least four earthquakes have been identified between *12 ka and today (Briggs and Wesnousky 2004). In contrast to the at least partially constrained Holocene slip history, the longterm slip evolution on a 10 5 -ka timescale is unknown for both normal and strike-slip faults.…”

Transtensional analyses of fault patterns and strain provinces of the Eastern California shear zone–Walker Lane on the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada microplate, California and Nevada

“…North to north-northeast-striking normal faults include: southern Mohawk Valley Fault (Sawyer et al 1993;Sawyer et al 2005), Dry ValleySmoke Creek Ranch Fault (Bonham 1969), Bonham Ranch Fault Zone (Bonham 1969), Eastern Pyramid Lake Fault (Bonham 1969), Peterson Mountain Fault (Nitchman 1991), Freds Mountain Fault (Nitchman and Ramelli 1991), and Spanish Springs Valley Fault (Bell and Bonham 1987). Northwest striking dextral faults include: northern Mohawk Valley Fault (Sawyer et al 1993;Sawyer et al 2005), Honey Lake Fault (Wills and Borchardt 1993;Turner et al 2008), Warm Springs Valley Fault (Wills and Borchardt 1993;Henry et al 2002), and Pyramid Valley Fault (Bell and Slemmons 1979;Anderson and Hawkins 1984;Briggs and Wesnousky 2004). Northeast striking sinistral faults include: Spanish Springs Peak Fault Zone (Bell and Bonham 1987) and Olinghouse Fault Zone (Sanders and Slemmons 1979;Sanders and Slemmons 1996;Briggs and Wesnousky 2005), and the Carson Lineament (Shawe 1965;Bell 1984 The TD of the microplate is , 3008 (Euler pole from Dixon et al 2000) and the northeast margin is oriented , 3308.…”