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Science 3 April 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5053, pp. 83 - 86
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5053.83
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Articles

Variations in Strength and Slip Rate Along the San Andreas Fault System

Craig H. Jones 1 and Steven G. Wesnousky 1

1 Center for Neotectonic Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557

Convergence across the San Andreas fault (SAF) system is partitioned between strike-slip motion on the vertical SAF and oblique-slip motion on parallel dip-slip faults, as illustrated by the recent magnitude Ms = 6.0 Palm Springs, Ms = 6.7 Coalinga, and Ms = 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquakes. If the partitioning of slip minimizes the work done against friction, the direction of slip during these recent earthquakes depends primarily on fault dip and indicates that the normal stress coefficient and frictional coefficient (µ) vary among the faults. Additionally, accounting for the active dip-slip faults reduces estimates of fault slip rates along the vertical trace of the SAF by about 50 percent in the Loma Prieta and 100 percent in the North Palm Springs segments.

Submitted on November 8, 1991
Accepted on February 18, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Paleomagnetic and structural evidence for oblique slip in a fault-related fold, Grayback monocline, Colorado.
J. Tetreault, C. H. Jones, E. Erslev, S. Larson, M. Hudson, and S. Holdaway (2008)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, 877-892
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Patterns of bedrock uplift along the San Andreas fault and implications for mechanisms of transpression.
J. A. Spotila, M. A. House, N. A. Niemi, R. C. Brady, M. Oskin, and J. T. Buscher (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 434, 15-33
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Late Quaternary slip rates along the Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone, California: Slip partitioning across the western margin of the Eastern California Shear Zone-Basin and Range Province.
K. Le, J. Lee, L. A. Owen, and R. Finkel (2007)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 119, 240-256
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Thirty-Five-Year Creep Rates for the Creeping Segment of the San Andreas Fault and the Effects of the 2004 Parkfield Earthquake: Constraints from Alignment Arrays, Continuous Global Positioning System, and Creepmeters.
S. J. Titus, C. DeMets, and B. Tikoff (2006)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 96, S250-S268
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Earthquake size as a function of fault slip rate.
J. G. Anderson, S. G. Wesnousky, and M. W. Stirling (1996)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 86, 683-690
   Abstract »    PDF »
Fault Zone Connectivity: Slip Rates on Faults in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
R. Bilham, R. Bilham, and P. Bodin (1992)
Science 258, 281-284
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