Present Day Kinematics of the Eastern California Shear Zone from a Geodetically Constrained Block Model

Simon McClusky, Steven C. Bjornstad, Bradford H. Hager, Robert W. King, Frank Miller, M. Meghan M. Miller, Francis C. Monastero, & Barbara Souter

Published 2001, SCEC Contribution #550

We use Global Positioning System (GPS) data from 1993-2000 to determine horizontal velocities of 65 stations in eastern California and western Nevada between 35° and 37° N. We relate the geodetic velocities to fault slip rates using a block model that enforces path integral constraints over geologic and geodetic time scales and that includes the effects of elastic strain accumulation on faults locked to a depth of 15 km. The velocity of the Sierra Nevada block with respect to Nevada is 11.1 ± 0.3 mm/yr, with slip partitioned across the Death Valley, (2.8 ± 0.5 mm/yr), Panamint Valley (2.5 ± 0.8 mm/yr), and Airport Lake/Owens Valley (5.3 ± 0.7/4.6 ± 0.5 mm/yr) faults. The western Mojave block rotates at 2.1 ± 0.8°/My clockwise, with 3.7 ± 0.7 mm/yr of left lateral motion across the western Garlock Fault. We infer 11 ± 2 mm/yr of right lateral motion across the Mojave region of the Eastern California Shear Zone.

Citation
McClusky, S., Bjornstad, S. C., Hager, B. H., King, R. W., Miller, F., Miller, M. M., Monastero, F. C., & Souter, B. (2001). Present Day Kinematics of the Eastern California Shear Zone from a Geodetically Constrained Block Model. Geophysical Research Letters, 28(17), 3369-3372.