Ages of Prehistoric Earthquakes Revealed by Cosmogenic Chlorine-36 in a Bedrock Fault Scarp at Hebgen Lake
Marek Zreda,
Jay S. Noller
Cosmogenic chlorine-36 reveals dates of the multiple prehistoric
earthquakes that have produced a scarp on the Hebgen Lake fault.
Apparent chlorine-36 ages are stratigraphically correct, follow a
predicted theoretical pattern, and produce geologically reasonable
model ages of 24, 20, 7.0, 2.6, 1.7, and 0.4 thousand years ago. This
result demonstrates the feasibility of using cosmogenic chlorine-36 to
extract paleoearthquake records from bedrock fault scarps.
M. Zreda, Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. J. S. Noller, Department
of Geology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.