scholarly journals Aseismic Transform Fault Slip at the Mendocino Triple Junction From Characteristically Repeating Earthquakes

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 699-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Materna ◽  
Taka'aki Taira ◽  
Roland Bürgmann
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
Fault Slip ◽  
Transform Fault ◽  
Repeating Earthquakes ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction

HOLOCENE MARINE TERRACE FORMATION NEAR THE MENDOCINO TRIPLE JUNCTION: PALEOSEISMIC HISTORY DERIVED FROM HIGH RESOLUTION LIDAR

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Crawford ◽  
◽  
Evan J. Hartshorn ◽  
Mark A. Hemphill-Haley ◽  
Melanie J. Michalak
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Marine Terrace ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction

Boulders as a lithologic control on river and landscape response to tectonic forcing at the Mendocino triple junction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles M. Shobe ◽  
Georgina L. Bennett ◽  
Gregory E. Tucker ◽  
Kevin Roback ◽  
Scott R. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Coastal Belt ◽  
Sediment Mass ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction ◽  
Landscape Response ◽  
Channel Steepness ◽  
Tectonic Forcing

Constraining Earth’s sediment mass balance over geologic time requires a quantitative understanding of how landscapes respond to transient tectonic perturbations. However, the mechanisms by which bedrock lithology governs landscape response remain poorly understood. Rock type influences the size of sediment delivered to river channels, which controls how efficiently rivers respond to tectonic forcing. The Mendocino triple junction region of northern California, USA, is one landscape in which large boulders, delivered by hillslope failures to channels, may alter the pace of landscape response to a pulse of rock uplift. Boulders frequently delivered by earthflows in one lithology, the Franciscan mélange, have been hypothesized to steepen channels and slow river response to rock uplift, helping to preserve high-elevation, low-relief topography. Channels in other units (the Coastal Belt and the Franciscan schist) may experience little or no erosion inhibition due to boulder delivery. Here we investigate spatial patterns in channel steepness, an indicator of erosion resistance, and how it varies between mélange and non-mélange channels. We then ask whether lithologically controlled boulder delivery to rivers is a possible cause of steepness variations. We find that mélange channels are steeper than Coastal Belt channels but not steeper than schist channels. Though channels in all units steepen with increasing proximity to mapped hillslope failures, absolute steepness values near failures are much higher (∼2×) in the mélange and schist than in Coastal Belt units. This could reflect reduced rock erodibility or increased erosion rates in the mélange and schist, or disproportionate steepening due to enhanced boulder delivery by hillslope failures in those units. To investigate the possible influence of lithology-dependent boulder delivery, we map boulders at failure toes in the three units. We find that boulder size, frequency, and concentration are greatest in mélange channels and that Coastal Belt channels have the lowest concentrations. Using our field data to parameterize a mathematical model for channel slope response to boulder delivery, we find that the modeled influence of boulders in the mélange could be strong enough to account for some observed differences in channel steepness between lithologies. At the landscape scale, we lack the data to fully disentangle boulder-induced steepening from that due to spatially varying erosion rates and in situ rock erodibility. However, our boulder mapping and modeling results suggest that lithology-dependent boulder delivery to channels could retard landscape adjustment to tectonic forcing in the mélange and potentially also in the schist. Boulder delivery may modulate landscape response to tectonics and help preserve high-elevation, low-relief topography at the Mendocino triple junction and elsewhere.

The rupture process and aftershock distribution of the 6 April 1992 MS 6.8 earthquake, Offshore British Columbia

1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 716-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Cassidy ◽  
Garry C. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waves ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Rupture Process ◽  
Body Waves ◽  
Ocean Bottom Seismometer ◽  
Strain Accumulation ◽  
Transform Fault ◽  
Junction Region ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Initial Rupture

Abstract On 6 April 1992, a magnitude 6.8 (MS) earthquake occurred in the triple-junction region at the northern end of the Cascadia subduction zone. This was the largest earthquake in at least 75 yr to occur along the 110-km-long Revere-Dellwood-Wilson (RDW) transform fault and the first large earthquake in this region recorded by modern broadband digital seismic networks. It thus provides an opportunity to examine the rupture process along a young (<2 Ma) oceanic transform fault and to gain better insight into the tectonics of this triple-junction region. We have investigated the source parameters and the rupture process of this earthquake by modeling broadband body waves and long-period surface waves and by accurately locating the mainshock and the first 10 days of aftershocks using a well-located “calibration” event recorded during an ocean-bottom seismometer survey. Analysis of P and SH waveforms reveals that this was a complex rupture sequence consisting of three strike-slip subevents in 12 sec. The initial rupture occurred 5 to 6 km to the SW of the seafloor trace of the RDW fault at 50.55° N, 130.46° W. The dominant subevent occurred 2 to 3 sec later and 4.3 km beneath the seafloor trace of the RDW fault, and a third subevent occurred 5 sec later, 18 km to the NNW, suggesting a northwestward propagating rupture. The aftershock sequence extended along a 60- to 70-km-long segment of the RDW fault, with the bulk of the activity concentrated ∼30 to 40 km to the NNW of the epicenter, consistent with this interpretation. The well-constrained mechanism of the initial rupture (strike/dip/slip 339°/90°/−168°) and of the largest aftershock (165°/80°/170°) are rotated 15° to 20° clockwise relative to the seafloor trace of the RDW fault but are parallel to the Pacific/North America relative plate motion vector. In contrast, the mechanisms of the dominant subevent (326°/87°/−172°), and the long-period solution derived from surface waves aligns with the RDW fault. This suggests that small earthquakes (M < 6) in this area occur along faults that are optimally aligned with respect to the regional stress field, whereas large earthquakes, involving tens of kilometers of rupture, activate the RDW fault. For the mainshock, we estimate a seismic moment (from surface waves) of 1.0 × 1026 dyne-cm, a stress drop of 60 bars, and an average slip of 1.2 m. This represents only 21 yr of strain accumulation, implying that there is either a significant amount of aseismic slip along the RDW fault or that much of the strain accumulation manifests itself as deformation within the Dellwood and Winona blocks or along the continental margin.

scholarly journals Differences in channel and hillslope geometry record a migrating uplift wave at the Mendocino triple junction, California, USA

Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona J. Clubb ◽  
Simon M. Mudd ◽  
Martin D. Hurst ◽  
Stuart W.D. Grieve
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Plate Motion ◽  
Topographic Analysis ◽  
Channel Response ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Landscape Morphology ◽  
Channel Steepness

Abstract Tectonic plate motion, and the resulting change in land surface elevation, has been shown to have a fundamental impact on landscape morphology. Changes to uplift rates can drive a response in fluvial channels, which then drives changes to hillslopes. Because hillslopes respond on different time scales than fluvial channels, investigating the geometry of channels and hillslopes in concert provides novel opportunities to examine how uplift rates may have changed through time. Here we perform coupled topographic analysis of channel and hillslope geometry across a series of catchments at the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ) in northern California, USA. These catchments are characterized by an order-of-magnitude difference in uplift rate from north to south. We find that dimensionless hillslope relief closely matches the uplift signal across the area and is positively correlated with channel steepness. Furthermore, the range of uncertainty in hillslope relief is lower than that of channel steepness, suggesting that it may be a more reliable recorder of uplift in the MTJ region. We find that hilltop curvature lags behind relief in its response to uplift, which in turn lags behind channel response. These combined metrics show the northward migration of the MTJ and the corresponding uplift field from topographic data alone.

Morphology and growth history of delgada fan: Implications for the Neogene evolution of Point Arena Basin and the Mendocino Triple Junction

1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (B3) ◽  
pp. 3139-3158 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Drake ◽  
David A. Cacchione ◽  
James V. Gardner ◽  
David S. McCulloch ◽  
Douglas Masson
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
Growth History ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction ◽  
History Of

Transition from slab to slabless: Results from the 1993 Mendocino triple junction seismic experiment

Geology ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce C. Beaudoin ◽  
Nicola J. Godfrey ◽  
Simon L. Klemperer ◽  
Christof Lendl ◽  
Anne M. Trehu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Triple Junction ◽  
Seismic Experiment ◽  
Mendocino Triple Junction
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