scholarly journals Keeping the History in Historical Seismology: The 1872 Owens Valley, California Earthquake

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Hough ◽  
Adolfo Santini ◽  
Nicola Moraci
Keyword(s):  
Owens Valley ◽  
Historical Seismology

scholarly journals Using sub-aperture illumination to solve the shortspacing problem

1991 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 81-85
Author(s):  
David P. Woody ◽  
Nick Z. Scoville ◽  
Lee G. Mundy
Keyword(s):  
Primary Beam ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Short Spacing ◽  
Scale Size ◽  
Spacing Problem

AbstractA common problem in producing interferometer maps of objects with structure on the scale-size of the primary beam is the acquisition of UV data corresponding to telescope spacings of less than one telescope diameter. One technique for solving this “short-spacing” problem is to divide the aperture of one of the telescopes into smaller sub-apertures and measuring the visibilities between these sub-apertures. This technique is being tested using the Owens Valley Millimeter Interferometer.

Microseismicity and tectonics of the Nevada Seismic Zone

1971 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1413-1432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank J. Gumper ◽  
Christopher Scholz
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Focal Mechanism ◽  
Basin And Range ◽  
Mono Lake ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Seismic Zone ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Focal Mechanism Solutions ◽  
Composite Focal Mechanism

abstract Microseismicity, composite focal-mechanism solutions, and previously-published focal parameter data are used to determine the current tectonic activity of the prominent zone of seismicity in western Nevada and eastern California, termed the Nevada Seismic Zone. The microseismicity substantially agrees with the historic seismicity and delineates a narrow, major zone of activity that extends from Owens Valley, California, north past Dixie Valley, Nevada. Focal parameters indicate that a regional pattern of NW-SE tension exists for the western Basin and Range and is now producing crustal extension within the Nevada Seismic Zone. An eastward shift of the seismic zone along the Excelsior Mountains and left-lateral strike-slip faulting determined from a composite focal mechanism indicate transform-type faulting between Mono Lake and Pilot Mountain. Based on these results and other data, it is suggested that the Nevada Seismic Zone is caused by the interaction of a westward flow of mantle material beneath the Basin and Range Province with the boundary of the Sierra Nevada batholith.

Seismic intensities, “size” of earthquakes and related parameters

1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 1287-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack F. Evernden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Simple Model ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Return Times ◽  
Comparable Magnitude

Abstract The simple model of an earthquake used in Evernden, et al. (1973) was extended to the conterminous United States and observed patterns of isoseismals for major earthquakes studied in relation to the model. Regional attenuation, a known major factor controlling isoseismal patterns, was quantitatively evaluated. Incorporating this regional variation into the model results in the prediction that in terms of energy released, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was 50 times as large as Owens Valley 1872 and more than 100 times larger than the Charleston 1886 and New Madrid 1811 earthquakes. All of these were probably of comparable “magnitude”. Other relevant parameters are investigated. Analysis of probability of occurrence of major earthquakes in the Eastern United States suggests average annual return times of intensity X and IX of thousands of years at least. Presently unknown local conditions may lead to much greater probabilities at some localities, and the importance of developing procedures for determining regions of abnormally high risk is stressed.

The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake of December 20, 1932*

1934 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent P. Gianella ◽  
Eugene Callaghan
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Horizontal Displacement ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Relative Movement ◽  
East Side ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
The West ◽  
Horizontal Movement ◽  
San Andreas

Summary The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake took place at about 10h 10m 04s p.m., December 20, 1932. It was preceded by a foreshock noted locally and followed by thousands of aftershocks, which were reported as still continuing in January 1934. No lives were lost and there was very little damage. The earthquake originated in southwest central Nevada, east of Mina. A belt of rifts or faults in echelon lies in the valley between Gabbs Valley Range and Pilot Mountains on the west and Cedar Mountain and Paradise Range on the east. The length of this belt is thirty-eight miles in a northwesterly direction, and the width ranges from four to nine miles. The rifts consist of zones of fissures which commonly reveal vertical displacement and in a number of places show horizontal displacement. The length of the rifts ranges from a few hundred feet to nearly four miles, and the width may be as much as 400 feet. The actual as well as indicated horizontal displacement is represented by a relative southward movement of the east side of each rift. The echelon pattern of the rifts within the rift area indicates that the relative movement of the adjoining mountain masses is the same. The direction of relative horizontal movement corresponds to that along the east front of the Sierra Nevada at Owens Valley and on the San Andreas rift.

Strain accumulation in Owens Valley, California, 1974 to 1988

1995 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-158
Author(s):  
J. C. Savage ◽  
M. Lisowski
Keyword(s):  
Strain Rate ◽  
Coordinate System ◽  
Strain Accumulation ◽  
Lateral Deformation ◽  
Lateral Shear ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Conventional Model ◽  
Measured Strain ◽  
Standard Deviations ◽  
Buried Fault

Abstract Strain accumulation observed over the 1974 to 1988 interval in a 25 by 100 km aperture trilateration network spanning Owens Valley is adequately described by a strain rate that is uniform in space and time. The tensor strain-rate components referred to a coordinate system with the 2 axis directed N18°W (parallel to the trend of the valley) and the 1 axis N72°E are ∈˙11′ = 0.042 ± 0.014 μstrain/yr, ∈˙12′ = -0.058 ± 0.007 μstrain/yr, and ∈˙22′ = 0.002 ± 0.014 μstrain/yr; quoted uncertainties are standard deviations and extension is reckoned positive. Across the 25-km breadth of the network, this amounts to 1.0 ± 0.3 mm/yr extension normal to the axis of the valley, 2.9 ± 0.4 mm/yr right-lateral shear across the axis, and no extension parallel to the axis. If the measured strain accumulation is attributed to slip on the deeper section of the Owens Valley fault with the uppermost 10 km of the fault locked, the observed right-lateral deformation would imply about 7 mm/yr right-lateral slip on the buried fault, much greater than the geologic estimate of 2 ± 0.5 mm/yr right-lateral secular slip (Beanland and Clark, 1994). Nor is the observed uplift profile across the valley consistent with continuing normal slip on just the deep segment of the Owens Valley fault; normal slip at depth on the Sierra frontal fault also seems to be required. The observed deformation across Owens Valley apparently implies processes more complicated than those represented by the conventional model of strain accumulation along a throughgoing fault.

Sierra Nevada-Great Basin boundary zone: Earthquake hazard related to structure, active tectonic processes, and anomalous patterns of earthquake occurrence

1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1557-1572
Author(s):  
J. D. VanWormer ◽  
Alan S. Ryall
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Mono Lake ◽  
Local Network ◽  
Low Velocity ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Walker Lake ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
The North

abstract Precise epicentral determinations based on local network recordings are compared with mapped faults and volcanic features in the western Great Basin. This region is structurally and seismically complex, and seismogenic processes vary within it. In the area north of the rupture zone of the 1872 Owens Valley earthquake, dispersed clusters of epicenters agree with a shatter zone of faults that extend the 1872 breaks to the north and northwest. An area of frequent earthquake swarms east of Mono Lake is characterized by northeast-striking faults and a crustal low-velocity zone; seismicity in this area appears to be related to volcanic processes that produced thick Pliocene basalt flows in the Adobe Hills and minor historic activity in Mono Lake. In the Garfield Hills between Walker Lake and the Excelsior Mountains, there is some clustering of epicenters along a north-trending zone that does not correlate with major Cenozoic structures. In an area west of Walker Lake, low seismicity supports a previous suggestion by Gilbert and Reynolds (1973) that deformation in that area has been primarily by folding and not by faulting. To the north, clusters of earthquakes are observed at both ends of a 70-km-long fault zone that forms the eastern boundary of the Sierra Nevada from Markleeville to Reno. Clusters of events also appear at both ends of the Dog Valley Fault in the Sierra west of Reno, and at Virginia City to the east. Fault-plane solutions for the belt in which major earthquakes have occurred in Nevada during the historic period (from Pleasant Valley in the north to the Excelsior Mountains on the California-Nevada Border) correspond to normaloblique slip and are similar to that found by Romney (1957) for the 1954 Fairview Peak shock. However, mechanisms of recent moderate earthquakes within the SNGBZ are related to right- or left-lateral slip, respectively, on nearly vertical, northwest-, or northeast-striking planes. These mechanisms are explained by a block faulting model of the SNGBZ in which the main fault segments trend north, have normal-oblique slip, and are offset or terminated by northwest-trending strike-slip faults. This is supported by the observation that seismicity during the period of observation has been concentrated at places where major faults terminate or intersect. Anomalous temporal variations, consisting of a general decrease in seismicity in the southern part of the SNGBZ from October 1977 to September 1978, followed by a burst of moderate earthquakes that has continued for more than 18 months, is suggestive of a pattern that several authors have identified as precursory to large earthquakes. The 1977 to 1979 variations are particularly noteworthy because they occurred over the entire SNGBZ, indicating a regional rather than local cause for the observed changes.

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