Publication Date
3-1-2021
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Science Advances
Volume
7
Issue
13
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aaz5691
Abstract
The San Andreas fault has the highest calculated time-dependent probability for large-magnitude earthquakes in southern California. However, where the fault is multistranded east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, it has been uncertain which strand has the fastest slip rate and, therefore, which has the highest probability of a destructive earthquake. Reconstruction of offset Pleistocene-Holocene landforms dated using the uranium-thorium soil carbonate and beryllium-10 surface exposure techniques indicates slip rates of 24.1 ± 3 millimeter per year for the San Andreas fault, with 21.6 ± 2 and 2.5 ± 1 millimeters per year for the Mission Creek and Banning strands, respectively. These data establish the Mission Creek strand as the primary fault bounding the Pacific and North American plates at this latitude and imply that 6 to 9 meters of elastic strain has accumulated along the fault since the most recent surface-rupturing earthquake, highlighting the potential for large earthquakes along this strand.
Funding Number
1848547
Funding Sponsor
National Science Foundation
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Department
Geology
Recommended Citation
Kimberly Blisniuk, Katherine Scharer, Warren D. Sharp, Roland Burgmann, Colin Amos, and Michael Rymer. "A revised position for the primary strand of the Pleistocene-Holocene San Andreas fault in southern California" Science Advances (2021). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5691
