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T. J. Powers

Publications and source records attributed to T. J. Powers.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2005

The most recent large earthquake on the Rodgers Creek fault, San Francisco bay area

The Rodgers Creek fault (RCF) is a principal component of the San Andreas fault system north of San Francisco. No evidence appears in the historical record of a large earthquake on the RCF, implying that the most recent earthquake (MRE) occurred before 1824, when a Franciscan mission was built near the fault at Sonoma, and probably before 1776, when a mission and presidio were built in San Francisco. The first appearance of nonnative pollen in the stratigraphic record at the Triangle G Ranch study site on the south-central reach of the RCF confirms that the MRE occurred before local settlement and the beginning of livestock grazing. Chronological modeling of earthquake age using radiocarbon-dated charcoal from near the top of a faulted alluvial sequence at the site indicates that the MRE occurred no earlier than A.D. 1690 and most likely occurred after A.D. 1715. With these age constraints, we know that the elapsed time since the MRE on the RCF is more than 181 years and less than 315 years and is probably between 229 and 290 years. This elapsed time is similar to published recurrence-interval estimates of 131 to 370 years (preferred value of 230 years) and 136 to 345 years (mean of 205 years), calculated from geologic data and a regional earthquake model, respectively. Importantly, then, the elapsed time may have reached or exceeded the average recurrence time for the fault. The age of the MRE on the RCF is similar to the age of prehistoric surface rupture on the northern and southern sections of the Hayward fault to the south. This suggests possible rupture scenarios that involve simultaneous rupture of the Rodgers Creek and Hayward faults. A buried channel is offset 2.2 (+ 1.2, - 0.8) m along one side of a pressure ridge at the Triangle G Ranch site. This provides a minimum estimate of right-lateral slip during the MRE at this location. Total slip at the site may be similar to, but is probably greater than, the 2 (+ 0.3, - 0.2) m measured previously at the nearby Beebe Ranch site.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
USGS2002

Structure and earthquake offsets on the San Andreas fault at the Wrightwood, California paleoseismic site

Thirty-eight trenches and natural exposures across the San Andreas fault zone, four km northwest of Wrightwood, California, reveal the structure and stratigraphy of this paleoseismic site. A 25-m-thick stratigraphic section of late Holocene peat, debris flows, and fluvial sediments have accumulated syntectonically and are deformed in a complicated flower, or flake, structure within the fault zone. Whereas slip is everywhere parallel to the trend of the San Andreas fault, layering within the fan-shaped section guides the surface faulting, and transtensive portions of the structure are connected to transpressive portions by bedding-parallel detachment faults. The structure has grown through time, widely distributing the evidence for individual earthquakes. The broad zone of deformation and rapid sedimentation permit the characterization of an unusually large number of prehistoric earthquakes. The presence of at least four geomorphically similar sites within 10 km along the fault zone suggests that this kind of site is common and other sites should be exploited.

California↗
USGS1998

Paleoseismic investigations in the Santa Cruz mountains, California: Implications for recurrence of large-magnitude earthquakes on the San Andreas fault

Trenching, microgeomorphic mapping, and tree ring analysis provide information on timing of paleoearthquakes and behavior of the San Andreas fault in the Santa Cruz mountains. At the Grizzly Flat site alluvial units dated at 1640–1659 A.D., 1679–1894 A.D., 1668–1893 A.D., and the present ground surface are displaced by a single event. This was the 1906 surface rupture. Combined trench dates and tree ring analysis suggest that the penultimate event occurred in the mid-1600 s, possibly in an interval as narrow as 1632–1659 A.D. There is no direct evidence in the trenches for the 1838 or 1865 earthquakes, which have been proposed as occurring on this part of the fault zone. In a minimum time of about 340 years only one large surface faulting event (1906) occurred at Grizzly Flat, in contrast to previous recurrence estimates of 95–110 years for the Santa Cruz mountains segment. Comparison with dates of the penultimate San Andreas earthquake at sites north of San Francisco suggests that the San Andreas fault between Point Arena and the Santa Cruz mountains may have failed either as a sequence of closely timed earthquakes on adjacent segments or as a single long rupture similar in length to the 1906 rupture around the mid-1600 s. The 1906 coseismic geodetic slip and the late Holocene geologic slip rate on the San Francisco peninsula and southward are about 50–70% and 70% of their values north of San Francisco, respectively. The slip gradient along the 1906 rupture section of the San Andreas reflects partitioning of plate boundary slip onto the San Gregorio, Sargent, and other faults south of the Golden Gate. If a mid-1600 s event ruptured the same section of the fault that failed in 1906, it supports the concept that long strike-slip faults can contain master rupture segments that repeat in both length and slip distribution. Recognition of a persistent slip rate gradient along the northern San Andreas fault and the concept of a master segment remove the requirement that lower slip sections of large events such as 1906 must fill in on a periodic basis with smaller and more frequent earthquakes.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗