Coexisting seismic behavior of transform faults revealed by high-resolution bathymetry
Geology
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Abstract
Transform faults are known to have anomalously low rates of seismicity, but no direct observations reveal why this is the case. We use new, autonomous underwater vehicle high-resolution seafloor mapping to image the morphology of and offsets along transform fault segments in the Gulf of California. Fault splays display a varied history of activation and deactivation of individual fault strands over time, not unlike those mapped onshore or imaged within the bathymetry of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather and the Palos Verdes faults of offshore western Canada and Southern California. A series of six identically offset depositional fans evidence 21–23 meters of slip along the main transform fault, which could not have been produced by a single earthquake. Rather, the lack of smaller-magnitude offsets indicates synchronous deposition and an absence of multiple slope failure-inducing earthquakes, thus providing the first direct evidence that creep and earthquakes occur at different times in the slip history of a given transform fault segment.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Coexisting seismic behavior of transform faults revealed by high-resolution bathymetry |
| Series title | Geology |
| DOI | 10.1130/G46663.1 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 2020 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Geological Society of America |
| Contributing office(s) | Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center |
| Description | 6 p. |
| First page | 379 |
| Last page | 384 |
| Country | Canada, United States, Mexico |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |