Integrated Geologic and Geodetic Study of Strain Accumulation and Release in the Northern Walker Lane

太平洋-北美在圣安德烈亚斯断层系统纬度的右侧相对板块运动约为50毫米/年。高达四分之一的运动是由位于加州东部剪切带的圣安德烈亚斯断层系统以东的断层位移和位于西部盆地和山脉省、加州东部和内华达州西部的沃克莱恩系统所容纳的。与圣安德烈亚斯系统不同，北沃克巷断层系统的相对不成熟和复杂性使得大地测量速率和地质速率之间的比较变得困难。目前的数据表明，在盆地和山脉西部，力矩释放率（从偏移标志的地质观测和古地震调查中获得）和应变能积累率（从地表形状变化的大地测量中估计）之间存在系统差异。目前缺乏对这种差异的理解可能是因为在复杂的大陆内部环境中，应变释放（通过构造、地理和地震的时空分布来看）的数据不完整，以及基于应变积累（通过大地测量来看）的滑动率的分辨率不完整。该项目是对沃克湖和太浩湖之间Walker Lane北部地区的新构造和大地测量学进行综合分析，该地区的新构造数据非常少。为了评估应变积累和释放预算之间的差异，内华达大学里诺分校的一个研究小组将在大陆内部环境中获得迄今为止地震周期这两种表现形式的最完整的测量结果。该项目使用来自现有或即将安装的网络（BARGEN， MAGNET， NEARNET和EarthScope板块边界观测站）的大地测量数据，这些数据将与一个新的大地测量网络相补充，该网络使用半连续观测策略，获得大约三倍于目前研究区域可用的高精度率。各种新构造方法将用于研究史密斯、梅森、羚羊和布里奇波特山谷之间的断层以及长瓦库斯卡和卡森构造。调查的规模将在两个学科的优势之间实现最大的重叠，小到足以获得具有代表性的地质记录，大到足以解决与地壳断层模式相关的大地应变场的变化。这项工作与EarthScope的目标是一致的。具体来说，要完全理解任何板块边界的运动学和力学，就需要测量整个板块边界在地质时期内的变形速率、形式和演化。这项研究的结果将有助于了解这个地震活跃地区的地震危害。

Pacific-North American right-lateral relative plate motion at the latitude of the San Andreas fault system is approximately 50 mm/yr. Up to one fourth of that motion is accommodated by displacements on faults east of the San Andreas fault system within the Eastern California shear zone and Walker Lane system located in the western Basin and Range province, eastern California and western Nevada. Unlike the San Andreas system, the relative immaturity and complexity of the northern Walker Lane fault system makes the comparison between geodetic and geologic rates difficult. Current data indicate that there is a systematic difference between rates of moment release (obtained from geologic observations of offset markers and paleoseismic investigations), and rates of strain energy accumulation (estimated from geodetic measurement of surface shape change) in the western Basin and Range. The current lack of understanding of this discrepancy may lie in the incompleteness of data on strain release (as seen through structure, physiography, and the spatial and temporal distribution of earthquakes) and the resolution of slip rates based on strain accumulation (as seen by geodesy) in a complex intra-continental setting. This project is an integrated neotectonic and geodetic analysis of the northern Walker Lane in the area between Walker Lake and Lake Tahoe, a region for which the neotectonics data are very minimal. In order to evaluate the difference between budgets of strain accumulation and release a University of Nevada at Reno research team will obtain the most complete measurements to date of these two manifestations of the earthquake cycle in an intra-continental setting. The project uses geodetic data from existing or soon-to-be installed networks (BARGEN, MAGNET, NEARNET, and the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory) that will be supplemented with a new geodetic network that uses a semi-continuous observation strategy to obtain roughly three times as many high precision rates as are currently available in the study area. A variety of neotectonic approaches will be used to study the faults bounding the Smith, Mason, Antelope and Bridgeport Valleys and long the Wakuska and Carson lineaments. The scale of the investigation will achieve a maximum in overlap between the strengths of the two disciplines, small enough to obtain a geologic record that is representative, and large enough to resolve variations in the geodetic strain field that can be related to crustal fault patterns. This work is in concert with the goals of EarthScope. Specifically, a complete understanding of the kinematics and mechanics of any plate boundary requires measurements of the rate, style, and evolution of deformation across the entirety of the boundary through geologic time. Results from this study will aid in understanding earthquake hazards in this seismically active region.