Structure and late quaternary activity of the northern Owens valley fault zone, Owens valley, California

The Fish Springs fault is a primary strand in the northern end of the Owens Valley fault zone (OVFZ). The Fish Springs fault is the northwest strand in a 3-km-wide left echelon step of the OVFZ which bounds the Poverty Hills bedrock high. The Fish Springs fault strikes approximately north-south, dips steeply to the east, and is marked by a prominent east-facing scarp. No other faults in the OVFZ have prominent east-facing scarps at the latitude of Fish Springs, which indicates that the Fish Springs fault has accommodated virtually all of the local late Quaternary vertical displacement on the OVFZ.

The Fish Springs fault exhibits normal dip slip with no measurable lateral slip. Vertical displacements of a Late Pleistocene (0.314 ± 0.036 Ma, 2σ) cinder cone and of an overlying Tahoe-age (0.065–0.195 m.y.) alluvial fan are 76±8 m and 31±3 m, respectively. The maximum vertical 3.3. m. Two nearly equal vertical displacements of the active stream channel in the Tioga-age fan total 2.2. m. Vertical displacement of a stream terrace incised into the cinder cone is 1.2 ± 0.3 m. The minute amount of incision into that terrace indicates that uplift of the terrace probably occurred during the 1872 Owens Valley earthquake.

Three displacements of 1.1 ± 0.2 m each apparently have occurred at the Tioga-age fan since the midpoint of the Tioga interval, allowing an average recurrence interval of 3500 to 9000 years. Based on the age and displacement of the cinder cone, the average late Quaternary vertical displacement rate is 0.24 ± 0.04 mm/yr (2σ). At this rate, and assuming an average vertical displacement of 1.1 ± 0.2 m per event, the average recurrence interval would be 4600 ± 1100 years (2σ). The recurrence interval for the Fish Springs fault is similar to that for a strand in the southern part of the OVFZ which also ruptured in 1872.

Right-lateral, normal oblique slip characterizes the OVFZ. The location of the Poverty Hills bedrock high at a left step in the north-northwest-striking fault zone is consistent with the style of slip of the zone. The pure normal slip on the north-striking Fish Springs fault and the alignment of local cinder cones along north-striking normal faults indicate that the late Quaternary maximum horizontal compression has been oriented north-south at the north end of the OVFZ. Data from southern Owens Valley indicate a similar stress regime there. Late Quaternary slip on the OVFZ is consistent with north-south maximum horizontal compression.