Large Dextral Offset Across Owens Valley, California, from 148 Ma to 1872 A.D.

May 2-4, 2005: Owens Valley region, California

Leaders
Allen Glazner
University of North Carolina, (919) 962-0689, email: afglazner@email.unc.edu
Jeffrey Lee
Central Washington University, (509) 963-2801, email: jeff@geology.cwu.edu
John Bartley
University of Utah, email: jbartley@mines.utah.edu
David Green
Denison University, email: greened@denison.edu
Drew Colemen
University of North Carolina, email: dcoleman@unc.edu
Andrew Kylander-Clark
University of Calfornia, email: akylander@umial.ucsb.edu

Description

Although the dramatic 3300 m eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada was produced by normal faulting, field data indicate that dextral slip dominates the tectonics of eastern California. The 1872 Lone Pine earthquake produced more dextral slip than normal slip, and mapping of several pre-Cenozoic markers demonstrates 65 km or more of dextral slip since the Late Cretaceous. On this trip we will (1) examine neotectonic evidence for fault slip and strain partitioning; (2) trace the distribution and offset of pre-Cenozoic markers (e.g., dike swarms); and (3) discuss the implications of this slip for the tectonics of eastern California and unroofing of the southern Sierra Nevada.