Accumulation of tectonic strain in California

Abstract

The shear-strain accumulation in five tectonically-active areas of California has been calculated from triangulation data supplied by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Three of the areas lie along active sections of the San Andreas fault. Near Hollister, no appreciable strain accumulation was detected for the period 1930 to 1962. The movement of the fault blocks there appears to be accommodated by slip on the San Andreas and Calaveras faults. Near Cholame, the only appreciable accumulation of shear strain in the period 1932 to 1962 appears to be associated directly with slip on the San Andreas north of Cholame, slip which probably occurred during the 1934 Parkfield earthquake. Significant strain accumulation was confined to a zone centered on the San Andreas fault and extending 10 km on either side. Some of this strain was released in the 1966 Parkfield earthquake. In Imperial Valley, an average accumulation of γ = 0.4 μstrain per year right-lateral (referred to vertical planes parallel to the Imperial fault) shear strain extends over a zone perhaps 100 km wide centered on the Imperial fault. It appears that this shear pattern may be resolved into two zones of shear, one concentrated near the Imperial fault and the other near the San Andreas fault. No appreciable shear-strain accumulation was detected in the two areas that do not lie on the San Andreas fault—Santa Barbara channel for the period 1880 to 1923 and Owens Valley for the period 1934 to 1956.