Fault zone connectivity: slip rates on faults in the san francisco bay area, california

The slip rate of a fault segment is related to the length of the fault zone of which it is part. In turn, the slip rate of a fault zone is related to its connectivity with adjoining or contiguous fault zones. The observed variation in slip rate on fault segments in the San Francisco Bay area in California is consistent with connectivity between the Hayward, Calaveras, and San Andreas fault zones. Slip rates on the southern Hayward fault taper northward from a maximum of more than 10 millimeters per year and are sensitive to the active length of the Maacama fault.     

Surface displacements in the 1906 san francisco and 1989 loma prieta earthquakes

The horizontal displacements accompanying the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake are computed from geodetic survey measurements. The 1906 earthquake displacement field is entirely consistent with right-lateral strike slip on the San Andreas fault. In contrast, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake exhibited subequal components of strike slip and reverse faulting. This result, together with other seismic and geologic data, may indicate that the two earthquakes occurred on two different fault planes.     

Strain on the san andreas fault near palmdale, california: rapid, aseismic change

Frequently repeated strain measurements near Palmdale, California, during the period from 1971 through 1980 indicate that, in addition to a uniform accumulation of right-lateral shear strain (engineering shear, 0.35 microradian per year) across the San Andreas fault, a 1-microstrain contraction perpendicular to the fault that accumulated gradually during the interval 1974 through 1978 was aseismically released between February and November 1979. Subsequently (November 1979 to March 1980), about half of the contraction was recovered. This sequence of strain changes can be explained in terms of south-southwestward migration of a slip event consisting of the south-southwestward movement of the upper crust on a horizontal detachment surface at a depth of 10 to 30 kilometers. The large strain change in 1979 corresponds to the passage of the slip event beneath the San Andreas fault.     

San andreas fault zone head waves near parkfield, california

Microearthquake seismograms from the borehole seismic network on the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, California, provide three lines of evidence that first P arrivals are "head" waves refracted along the cross-fault material contrast. First, the travel time difference between these arrivals and secondary phases identified as direct P waves scales linearly with the source-receiver distance. Second, these arrivals have the emergent wave character associated in theory and practice with refracted head waves instead of the sharp first breaks associated with direct P arrivals. Third, the first motion polarities of the emergent arrivals are reversed from those of the direct P waves as predicted by the theory of fault zone head waves for slip on the San Andreas fault. The presence of fault zone head waves in local seismic network data may help account for scatter in earthquake locations and source mechanisms. The fault zone head waves indicate that the velocity contrast across the San Andreas fault near Parkfield is approximately 4 percent. Further studies of these waves may provide a way of assessing changes in the physical state of the fault system.     

Change in failure stress on the southern san andreas fault system caused by the 1992 magnitude = 7.4 landers earthquake

The 28 June Landers earthquake brought the San Andreas fault significantly closer to failure near San Bernardino, a site that has not sustained a large shock since 1812. Stress also increased on the San Jacinto fault near San Bernardino and on the San Andreas fault southeast of Palm Springs. Unless creep or moderate earthquakes relieve these stress changes, the next great earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault is likely to be advanced by one to two decades. In contrast, stress on the San Andreas north of Los Angeles dropped, potentially delaying the next great earthquake there by 2 to 10 years.     

Stress diffusion along the san andreas fault at parkfield, california

Beginning in January 1990, the epicenters of microearthquakes associated with a 12-month increase in seismicity near Parkfield, California, moved northwest to southeast along the San Andreas fault. During this sequence of events, the locally variable rate of cumulative seismic moment increased. This increase implies a local increase in fault slip. These data suggest that a southeastwardly diffusing stress front propagated along the San Andreas fault at a speed of 30 to 50 kilometers per year. Evidently, this front did not load the Parkfield asperities fast enough to produce a moderate earthquake; however, a future front might do so.     

Slip partitioning by elastoplastic propagation of oblique slip at depth

Oblique motion along tectonic boundaries is commonly partitioned into slip on faults with different senses of motion. The origin of slip partitioning is important to structural geology, tectonophysics, and earthquake mechanics. Partitioning can be explained by the upward elastoplastic propagation of oblique slip from a fault or shear zone at depth. The strain field ahead of the propagating fault separates into zones of predominantly normal, reverse, and strike-slip faulting. The model successfully predicts the distribution of fault types along parts of the San Andreas and Haiyuan faults.     

Strain release mechanism of the 1906 san francisco earthquake

Reexamination of geodetic data has shown that aseismic slip occurred on or near the San Andreas fault in the period of about 20 years after 1906. The inferred displacements are comparable to but at greater depths than the sudden slip that occurred at the time of the earthquake. The postseismic slip is constrained only between late 1906 and 1925, and data are insufficient to determine the movements, if any, below about 20 kilometers on the fault. Two independent observations also indicate stubstantial anomalous crustal deformation away from the fault at least 30 years before the earthquake.     

New evidence on the state of stress of the san andreas fault system

Contemporary in situ tectonic stress indicators along the San Andreas fault system in central California show northeast-directed horizontal compression that is nearly perpendicular to the strike of the fault. Such compression explains recent uplift of the Coast Ranges and the numerous active reverse faults and folds that trend nearly parallel to the San Andreas and that are otherwise unexplainable in terms of strike-slip deformation. Fault-normal crustal compression in central California is proposed to result from the extremely low shear strength of the San Andreas and the slightly convergent relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. Preliminary in situ stress data from the Cajon Pass scientific drill hole (located 3.6 kilometers northeast of the San Andreas in southern California near San Bernardino, California) are also consistent with a weak fault, as they show no right-lateral shear stress at approximately 2-kilometer depth on planes parallel to the San Andreas fault.     

Variations in strength and slip rate along the san andreas fault system

Convergence across the San Andreas fault (SAF) system is partitioned between strike-slip motion on the vertical SAF and oblique-slip motion on parallel dip-slip faults, as illustrated by the recent magnitude M(s) = 6.0 Palm Springs, M(s) = 6.7 Coalinga, and M(s) = 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquakes. If the partitioning of slip minimizes the work done against friction, the direction of slip during these recent earthquakes depends primarily on fault dip and indicates that the normal stress coefficient and frictional coefficient (micro) vary among the faults. Additionally, accounting for the active dip-slip faults reduces estimates of fault slip rates along the vertical trace of the SAF by about 50 percent in the Loma Prieta and 100 percent in the North Palm Springs segments.     

Evolution of the northern santa cruz mountains by advection of crust past a san andreas fault bend

The late Quaternary marine terraces near Santa Cruz, California, reflect uplift associated with the nearby restraining bend on the San Andreas fault. Excellent correspondence of the coseismic vertical displacement field caused by the 17 October 1989 magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake and the present elevations of these terraces allows calculation of maximum long-term uplift rates 1 to 2 kilometers west of the San Andreas fault of 0.8 millimeters per year. Over several million years, this uplift, in concert with the right lateral translation of the resulting topography, and with continual attack by geomorphic processes, can account for the general topography of the northern Santa Cruz Mountains.     

Irregular recurrence of large earthquakes along the san andreas fault: evidence from trees

Old trees growing along the San Andreas fault near Wrightwood, California, record in their annual ring-width patterns the effects of a major earthquake in the fall or winter of 1812 to 1813. Paleoseismic data and historical information indicate that this event was the "San Juan Capistrano" earthquake of 8 December 1812, with a magnitude of 7.5. The discovery that at least 12 kilometers of the Mojave segment of the San Andreas fault ruptured in 1812, only 44 years before the great January 1857 rupture, demonstrates that intervals between large earthquakes on this part of the fault are highly variable. This variability increases the uncertainty of forecasting destructive earthquakes on the basis of past behavior and accentuates the need for a more fundamental knowledge of San Andreas fault dynamics.     

Periodic pulsing of characteristic microearthquakes on the San Andreas fault

Deep fault slip information from characteristically repeating microearthquakes reveals previously unrecognized patterns of extensive, large-amplitude, long-duration, quasiperiodic repetition of aseismic events along much of a 175-kilometer segment of the central San Andreas fault. Pulsing occurs both in conjunction with and independent of transient slip from larger earthquakes. It extends to depths of approximately 10 to 11 kilometers but may be deeper, and it may be related to similar phenomena occurring in subduction zones. Over much of the study area, pulse onset periods also show a higher probability of larger earthquakes, which may provide useful information for earthquake forecasting.     

A look inside the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield through vertical seismic profiling

The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth pilot hole is located on the southwestern side of the Parkfield San Andreas fault. This observatory includes a vertical seismic profiling (VSP) array. VSP seismograms from nearby microearthquakes contain signals between the P and S waves. These signals may be P and S waves scattered by the local geologic structure. The collected scattering points form planar surfaces that we interpret as the San Andreas fault and four other secondary faults. The scattering process includes conversions between P and S waves, the strengths of which suggest large contrasts in material properties, possibly indicating the presence of cracks or fluids.     

The nature of the landers-mojave earthquake line

The Landers, California, earthquake of 28 June 1992 (magnitude = 7.3) is the latest of six significant earthquakes in the past 60 years whose epicenters and slip directions define a 100-kilometer alignment running approximately N15 degrees W across the central Mojave region. This pattern may indicate a geologically young throughgoing fault that replaces numerous older strike-slip faults by obliquely cutting across them. These older faults, and perhaps also the bend in the San Andreas fault, may be losing their ability to accommodate upper crustal deformation because they have become unfavorably oriented with respect to the regional stress field.     

Earthquake Swarm Along the San Andreas Fault near Palmdale, Southern California, 1976 to 1977

Between November 1976 and November 1977 a swarm of small earthquakes (local magnitude 相似文献   

Local geomagnetic events associated with displacements on the san andreas fault

The piezomagnetic properties of rock suggest that a change in subsurface stress will manifest itself as a change in the magnetic susceptibility and remanent magnetization and hence the local geomagnetic field. A differential array of magnetometers has been operating since late 1965 on the San Andreas fault in the search for piezomagnetic signals under conditions involving active fault stress. Local changes in the geomagnetic field have been observed near Hollister, California, some tens of hours preceding the onset of abrupt creep displacement on the San Andreas fault.     

The parkfield, california, earthquake prediction experiment

Five moderate (magnitude 6) earthquakes with similar features have occurred on the Parkfield section of the San Andreas fault in central California since 1857. The next moderate Parkfield earthquake is expected to occur before 1993. The Parkfield prediction experiment is designed to monitor the details of the final stages of the earthquake preparation process; observations and reports of seismicity and aseismic slip associated with the last moderate Parkfield earthquake in 1966 constitute much of the basis of the design of the experiment.     

Postseismic relaxation along the San Andreas fault at Parkfield from continuous seismological observations

Seismic velocity changes and nonvolcanic tremor activity in the Parkfield area in California reveal that large earthquakes induce long-term perturbations of crustal properties in the San Andreas fault zone. The 2003 San Simeon and 2004 Parkfield earthquakes both reduced seismic velocities that were measured from correlations of the ambient seismic noise and induced an increased nonvolcanic tremor activity along the San Andreas fault. After the Parkfield earthquake, velocity reduction and nonvolcanic tremor activity remained elevated for more than 3 years and decayed over time, similarly to afterslip derived from GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. These observations suggest that the seismic velocity changes are related to co-seismic damage in the shallow layers and to deep co-seismic stress change and postseismic stress relaxation within the San Andreas fault zone.     

North american--pacific relative plate motion in southern california from interferometry

Very long baseline interferometry measurements of baselines crossing the San Andreas fault zone in southern California have provided observational constraints on rates of elastic tectonic strain accumulation. The single site located near this fault (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory site) moves in a direction concordant with the Pacific plate motion vector but at approximately half the net rate relative to North America. This motion agrees approximately in amount with geologically determined displacement rates on the San Andreas fault alone but not with the local strike of the fault. When considered together with complementary geodetic data, these results suggest a complex relation between the short-term accumulation of elastic strain and its permanent accommodation on existing faults.