Collaborative Research: Late Cenozoic Detachment Faulting in the Western Salton Trough: Strain Partitioning in an Oblique Active-Margin Rift

大陆裂谷形成大洋岩石圈的过程是地球上的一级现象。不幸的是，大多数裂谷边缘被厚厚的沉积岩堆积所掩埋，阻碍了对裂谷过程中形成的构造的直接观察。这个项目将通过对南加州索尔顿海槽的多学科研究来解决有关斜向裂谷的几个重要问题。该地区正在经历与加利福尼亚州海湾和圣安德烈亚斯断层的开放有关的活动伸展和右旋走滑断层。基岩的暴露非常好，有机会检查在形成过程中捕捉到的板块边缘。将结合地质学、沉积学、地球物理学和地质年代学的方法，研究走滑断层和正断层之间的应变分配以及伴随而来的沉积学响应。

The process of rifting of continents to produce oceanic lithosphere is a first order phenomenon on Earth. Unfortunately, most rifted margins are buried by thick accumulations of sedimentary rock, hindering direct observation of the structures which formed during rifting. This project will address several significant questions about oblique rifting with a multi-disciplinary study of the Salton Trough in southern California. This region is undergoing active extension and right-lateral strike-slip faulting related to opening of the Gulf of California and the San Andreas fault. Exposures of bedrock are excellent and there is an opportunity to examine a plate margin caught in the process of forming. A combination of geological, sedimentological, geophysical, and geochronological methods will be brought to bear to study the partitioning of strain between strike-slip and normal faults and the accompanying sedimnetological response to each.