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Quantifying fault‐zone activity in arid environments with high‐resolution topography
Author(s) -
Oskin Michael E.,
Le Kimberly,
Strane Michael D.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031295
Subject(s) - fault scarp , geology , sinistral and dextral , slip (aerodynamics) , arid , fault (geology) , remote sensing , visualization , seismology , geodesy , paleontology , artificial intelligence , physics , computer science , thermodynamics
High‐resolution airborne laser swath‐mapping (ALSM) topography illuminates active faulting with unprecedented clarity. We contrast ALSM topography of two dextral faults in arid regions of California with slip rates that differ by an order of magnitude: The Lenwood fault, with rate of ∼1 mm/yr, and the Clark fault, a strand of the San Jacinto fault with net slip rate >10 mm/yr. Visualization of ALSM data reveals abundant fault scarps and deflected channels that when reconstructed can yield powerful slip constraints. Though many of these features may also be detected in existing aerial photography, these data are limited by stereo depth resolution and fixed illumination angle.