SCEC Award Number 18077 View PDF
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Data Gathering and Products)
Proposal Title Analyses of the Near-surface Composition, Properties, and Structure of the San Andreas Fault, Lake Elizabeth area
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
James Evans Utah State University
Other Participants Dr. Tamara Jeppson - Postdoctoral fellow, Texas A&M University
Rebekah Reimann, Graduate student, Utah State University
Caroline Studnicky, Graduate student, Utah State University
SCEC Priorities 3d, 3g, 2c SCEC Groups Seismology, SAFS, FARM
Report Due Date 04/30/2020 Date Report Submitted 11/04/2024
Project Abstract
 We investigate the composition and structure of the upper 2 km of strike-slip faults by examining core from two geotechnical investigations in the San Andreas (SAF) and San Gabriel Fault (SGF) zones. Seven steeply north inclined cores from Lake Elizabeth intersect steep south-dipping SAF zones up to 30 m thick of fault-related rocks, narrow slip surfaces, and wide zones of alteration to a depth of 140 m. We also examine a core acquired in a steeply plunging borehole across the steep north- dipping San Gabriel Fault in the western San Gabriel Mountains to a depth of ~ 500 m. The SGF zone is up to 100 m wide here. Standard optical petrographic study of the SAF samples reveals a range of brittle deformation processes and evidence for syntectonic hydrothermal alteration. Narrow slip surfaces lie within bands of cataclasite and ‘gouge’ zones that consist of fractured and altered granitic rocks subsequently sheared. . Core from the SGF consists of granodiorite gneiss that contains indurated foliated cataclasite, narrow slip surfaces, and sheared and brecciated chlorite+zeolite zones, and injection related breccia.
The patterns observed in the core support a model of syntectonic hydrothermal alteration in the fault zone that represent either 1) the fault –related rocks we observe formed at depths > than 1.5 km and the fault zone was exhumed, or 2) elevated thermal gradients produce alteration in the shallow portion of the faults.

Intellectual Merit We examine fault zone composition and structure from the San Andreas Fault in order to determine the rock properties in the fault zone, in order to contribute to the understanding of seismic properties of rock in the shallow portions of the fault.
Broader Impacts The patterns observed in the core support a model of syntectonic hydrothermal alteration in the fault zone that represent either 1) the fault –related rocks we observe formed at depths > than 1.5 km and the fault zone was exhumed, or 2) elevated thermal gradients produce alteration in the shallow portion of the faults.
Exemplary Figure Figure 3. Cross section of the San Andreas Fault at Lake Elizabeth.
Linked Publications

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  • Evans, J. P., Crouch, K., Studnikcy, C., Bone, S., Edwards, N., & Webb, S. (2024). Signatures of Fluid-Rock Interactions in Shallow Parts of the San Andreas and San Gabriel Faults, Southern California. Tektonika, 2(2), 1-32. https://doi.org/10.55575/tektonika2024.2.2.47. SCEC Contribution Number 14058
  • Crouch, K. A., & Evans, J. P. (2023). Shallow Composition and Structure of the Upper Part of the Exhumed San Gabriel Fault, California: Implications for Fault Processes. Tektonika, 1(2), 76-100. https://doi.org/10.55575/tektonika2023.1.2.30. SCEC Contribution Number 13335
  • Crouch, K. (2022). Shallow Composition and Structure of the San Gabriel Fault, California in Drill Core and Geophysical Logs: Implications for Fault Slip and Energetics (Utah State University, LOGAN). SCEC Contribution Number 14093
  • Studnicky, C. (2021). Constraining Deformation Mechanisms of Fault Damage Zones: A Case Study of the Shallow San Andreas Fault at Elizabeth Lake, Southern California. (Utah State University, LOGAN). https://doi.org/10.26076/638e-3616. SCEC Contribution Number 14094
  • Evans, J. P., Crouch, K., & Studnicky, C. (2020, 08). Composition and structure in the upper 2-4 km of major strike-slip faults. Poster Presentation at 2020 SCEC Annual Meeting. SCEC Contribution Number 10407
  • Evans, J. P., Reimann, R., Studnicky, C., & Bradbury, K. K. (2018, 08). The composition and structure of shallow portions of the San Andreas and San Gabriel Faults. Poster Presentation at 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting. SCEC Contribution Number 8551