USGS Open-File Report 2011–1282: Evaluation of Geodetic and Geologic Datasets in the Northern Walker Lane— Summary and Recommendations of the Workshop

Evaluation of Geodetic and Geologic Datasets in the Northern Walker Lane—

Summary and Recommendations of the Workshop

By Richard W. Briggs¹ and William C. Hammond²

Abstract

The Northern Walker Lane comprises a complex network of active faults in northwestern Nevada and northeastern California bound on the west by the Sierra Nevada and on the east by the extensional Basin and Range Province. Because deformation is distributed across sets of discontinuous faults, it is particularly challenging to integrate geologic and geodetic data in the NWL to assess the region’s seismic hazard. Recent GPS measurements show that roughly one centimeter per year of relative displacement is accumulating across a zone about 100 km wide at the latitude of Reno, Nevada, but it is not clear where or how much of this strain might ultimately be released in damaging earthquakes. Despite decades of work in the region, the sum of documented late Pleistocene to recent slip rates is distinctly less than the GPS-measured relative displacement.

¹ U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado
² Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada

First posted November 7, 2011

Report PDF (40.7 MB)

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Center Director,
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Denver, CO 80225

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Suggested citation:

Briggs, R.W. and Hammond, W.C., 2010, Evaluation of geodetic and geologic datasets in the Northern Walker Lane—Summary and recommendations of the Workshop: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1282, 76 p.

Contents

Introduction

Conclusions of the Workshop

Workshop Organization

References Cited

Appendix 1. Workshop attendees

Appendix 2. Agenda for workshop

Appendix 3. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Priority List for Fault Investigations

Appendix 4. Workshop Presentations

Supported by the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program