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

大陆裂谷形成海洋岩石圈的过程是地球上的一级现象。不幸的是，大多数裂陷边缘被厚厚的沉积岩堆积所掩埋，阻碍了对裂陷期间形成的构造的直接观察。该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裂作用的几个重要问题。该地区正经历与加利福尼亚湾和圣安德烈亚斯断层张开有关的活动伸展和右旋走滑断裂。基岩的暴露非常好，并且有机会检查在形成过程中捕获的板块边缘。将结合地质学、沉积学、地球物理和地质年代学的方法来研究走滑断层和正断层之间的应变分配及其相应的沉积学响应。

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.