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Basin & Range

  • AUTHOR: Jeff Dingler, Graham Kent and Debi Kilb
  • DATE: 2008-04-07


This is a 3-D Visualization of the Basin and Range province and Walker Lane Deformation Belt in southwestern USA. Highlights include GPS vectors (blue arrows) indicating the direction and magnitude of surface movement, which are juxtaposed on topography. The rapid increase in vector length approaching the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range highlights the focusing of deformation within the narrow Walker Lane, contrasting the older Basin and Range that shows little movement. This is reflected in the topographic map, where the older Basin and Range province consists of approximately north/south trending mountains interspersed with flat valley floors, whereas topography in the Walker Lane lacks that same fabric. We also include earthquake locations, including those from the EarthScope USArray catalog and also those from an independent USGS catalog (orange and tan orbs, respectively), USArray station locations (purple cylinders), a high resolution bathymetry map of Lake Tahoe (rainbow colored surface), and USA state boundaries (yellow lines).


References:

Gardner J.V., L.A. Mayer, J.E. Hughs-Clarke, Morphology and processes in Lake Tahoe (California-Nevada), GSA Bulletin, V 112, p736-476, 2000.

Hammond, W. C., and W. Thatcher, Northwest Basin and Range tectonic deformation observed with the Global Positioning System, 1999–2003, J. Geophys. Res., 110, B10405, doi:10.1029/2005JB003678, 2005.

Thatcher, W. G. R. Foulger, B. R. Julian, J. Svarc, E. Quilty, G. W. Bawden, Present-Day Deformation Across the Basin and Range Province, Western United States, Science. DOI:10.1126/science.283.5408.1714, 1999.


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