SCEC Award Number 15127 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Special Fault Study Area)
Proposal Title Evaluating Active, Rapid Late Quaternary Fault Slip on the Mission Creek Fault near San Gorgonio Pass
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Kimberly Blisniuk San Jose State University Research Foundation Gregory Balco Berkeley Geochronology Center Warren Sharp Berkeley Geochronology Center Katherine Scharer United States Geological Survey
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities 1a, 4a, 4b SCEC Groups Geology, SoSAFE
Report Due Date 03/15/2016 Date Report Submitted 04/28/2016
Project Abstract
 Support from SCEC in 2015 provided funding for field work and geochronologic data testing our hypothesis that the Mission Creek fault strand is active as it enters the San Gorgonio Pass (Fig. 1). Continued investigations on the Mission Creek fault strand near the San Gorgonio Pass suggests that the fault does not just remain active at this latitude but that slip rates may remain high with rates of at least 20 mm/yr. These results would indicate that the Mission Creek fault strand is potentially the main plate boundary structure here, contrary to current kinematic and fault hazard models for southern California. The 3 main goals of our project (1) dating offset Holocene landforms located just east of Highway 62, (2) remapping and evaluating the Mission Creek fans dated by Owen et al., (2014), and (3) further evaluate and develop the novel technique of 36Cl/10Be burial dating.
Intellectual Merit This proposal will directly address two long-term science priorities for SCEC4; namely, improving our understanding of (1) stress transfer from plate motion to crustal faults and (2) the structural evolution of fault zones and fault systems. In reference to the San Gorgonio Pass Science Plan specifically, we anticpate that data from this study will make important contributions to the following tasks and goals: (1) fill slip rate data gap, (2) provide validation for results of mechanical models that evaluate long term horizontal slip rates, and (3) provide slip rate data for rupture model refinement.
Broader Impacts N/A
Exemplary Figure Figure 1