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Science 20 November 1987:
Vol. 238. no. 4830, pp. 1105 - 1111
DOI: 10.1126/science.238.4830.1105
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Articles

New Evidence on the State of Stress of the San Andreas Fault System

MARK D. ZOBACK 1, MARY LOU ZOBACK 2, VAN S. MOUNT 3, JOHN SUPPE 3, JERRY P. EATON 2, JOHN H. HEALY 2, DAVID OPPENHEIMER 2, PAUL REASENBERG 2, LUCILE JONES 4, C. BARRY RALEIGH 5, IVAN G. WONG 6, OONA SCOTTI 1, and CARL WENTWORTH 2

1 Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
2 U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
3 Department of Geology and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
4 U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, CA 91107.
5 Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964.
6 Woodward-Clyde Consultants, San Francisco, CA 94102.

Contemporary in situ tectonic stress indicators along the San Andreas fault system in central California show northeast-directed horizontal compression that is nearly perpendicular to the strike of the fault. Such compression explains recent uplift of the Coast Ranges and the numerous active reverse faults and folds that trend nearly parallel to the San Andreas and that are otherwise unexplainable in terms of strike-slip deformation. Fault-normal crustal compression in central California is proposed to result from the extremely low shear strength of the San Andreas and the slightly convergent relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates. Preliminary in situ stress data from the Cajon Pass scientific drill hole (located 3.6 kilometers northeast of the San Andreas in southern California near San Bernardino, California) are also consistent with a weak fault, as they show no right-lateral shear stress at sim2-kilometer depth on planes parallel to the San Andreas fault.

Submitted on July 27, 1987
Accepted on October 5, 1987


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