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Briggs & Wesnousky 2004
Briggs, R.W. and Wesnousky, S.G. (2004). Late Pleistocene fault slip rate, earthquake recurrence, and recency of slip along the Pyramid Lake fault zone, northern Walker Lane, United States. Journal of Geophysical Research 109: doi: 10.1029/2003JB002717. issn: 0148-0227.

Up to 25% of Pacific-North America plate relative transform motion is accommodated east of the Sierra Nevada. Most of that 25% is taken up by deformation in the Walker Lane, a discontinuous zone of strike-slip and normal faults approximately parallel to the San Andreas. The Pyramid Lake fault zone is a northwest trending right-lateral fault in the northern Walker Lane, Nevada. Recent geodetic surveys report 6 ¿ 2 mm/year of right-lateral shear strain accumulation across the northern Walker Lane. Interpretation of displaced geomorphic features preserved in post-Lake Lahontan (~15,500 cal. yr B.P.) surfaces indicate the Pyramid Lake fault zone has accommodated at least 2.6 ¿ 0.3 mm/year of right-lateral shear during the late Pleistocene. Additionally, a minimum of two earthquakes have occurred since deposition of the Mazama tephra (~7630 cal. yr B.P.), and at least four earthquakes have occurred on the fault after desiccation of Lake Lahontan (~15.5 ka), with the most recent earthquake occurring after 1705 ¿ 175 cal. yr B.P. The observations indicate that the Pyramid Lake fault zone accommodates the major portion (≥25%--70%) of right-lateral slip east of the Sierra Nevada at the latitude of ~39¿45'N.

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Abstract

Keywords
Seismology, Paleoseismology, Tectonophysics, Continental neotectonics, Tectonophysics, Continental tectonics—general, Tectonophysics, Plate boundary—general, Walker Lane, slip rate, Pyramid Lake
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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