Perspective view of Garlock Fault The Garlock Fault Line is a left-lateral strike-slip fault line running approximately northeast-southwest in the southwestern United States. It marks the northern boundary of the area known as the Mojave Block, as well as the southern ends of the Sierra Nevada and the valleys of the westernmost Basin and Range province. Stretching for 250 kilometers, it is the second-longest fault line in California and is one of the most prominent geological features in the southern part of the state. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Geologic faults, fault lines or simply faults are planar rock fractures, which show evidence of relative movement. ...
Ordinal directions are the four compass directions: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, located halfway between the cardinal directions. ...
Ordinal directions are the four compass directions: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, located halfway between the cardinal directions. ...
This article is about the mountain range in the Western United States. ...
Basin and Range index map - USGS The Basin and Range Province is a particular type of topography that covers much of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico that is typified by elongate north-south trending arid valleys bounded by mountain ranges which also bound adjacent valleys. ...
A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer) (symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ...
The Garlock Fault intersects the San Andreas Fault in Antelope Valley, California, near the "Big Bend" area of the San Andreas, where that fault curves to a more eastern orientation for several hundred miles before turning south again. As the main plane of motion between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates shifted from a line closer to the current west coast to its present-day focus on the San Andreas, the Garlock developed as a result of and an accommodation for stresses in the Big Bend area. View of the San Andreas Fault on the Carrizo Plain in central California, 35°07N, 119°39W The San Andreas Fault is a geological fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1300 kilometres) through western and southern California in the United States. ...
The Antelope Valley consists of northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California. ...
The Pacific plate, shown in pale yellow The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean. ...
The North American plate, shown in brown The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Cherskiy Range in East Siberia. ...
The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ...
Unlike most of the other transform faults in California, slip on the Garlock Fault is left-lateral; it displaces material to the left. The interaction between this slip and the right-lateral motion of the San Andreas Fault causes the slow counterclockwise rotation of entire blocks of southern California terrain.
Activity in the Garlock Fault
The Garlock moves at a rate of between 2 and 11 millimeters a year, with an average slip of around 7 millimeters. While most of the fault is locked, certain segments have been shown to move by aseismic creep. A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...
A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ...
In geology, aseismic creep is measurable surface displacement along a fault in the absence of notable earthquakes. ...
The Garlock is not considered to be a particularly active fault, seldom producing any shaking detectable by humans, although it has been known to generate sympathetic seismic events when triggered by other earthquakes and in one instance by the removal of ground water. These events, as well as continuing microearthquake activity and the state of the scarps from previous ruptures, do indicate that the Garlock will produce another major quake at some point in the future. Seismology (from the Greek seismos = earthquake and logos = word) is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth. ...
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of stored energy in the Earths crust that creates seismic waves. ...
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. ...
A microearthquake is a very low intensity earthquake which is usually three or less on the Richter scale. ...
A Fault Scarp is an apparant step in the ground caused by an earthquake. ...
The most recent notable event was a magnitude 5.7 near the town of Mojave on July 11, 1992. It is thought to have been triggered by the Landers earthquake, just two weeks earlier. Mojave is a town located in Kern County, California. ...
is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...
The last significant ruptures on the Garlock were thought to be in the years 1050 A.D. and 1500 A.D.. Research has pinned the interval between significant ruptures on the Garlock as being anywhere between 200 and 3000 years depending on the segment of the fault.
Geography The Garlock constitutes one of the borders of the Mojave Desert, and is a significant geologic landmark in California. Mountain ranges mark its western edge, and its trace is clearly visible on aerial images of the state. For the indigenous American tribe, see Mohave. ...
This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ...
Mount Cook, a mountain in New Zealand A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. ...
A compass rose with west highlighted This article refers to the cardinal direction; for other uses see West (disambiguation). ...
Relatively few communities lie directly along the Garlock, as it is situated in the desert, Frazier Park, Tehachapi, Mojave, and Johannesburg being the closest. However, a major rupture along the Garlock would probably be felt in most of the southern part of California. Frazier Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. ...
Wind Turbines in the mountains Tehachapi (IPA: ) is a city incorporated in 1909 located in its namesake Tehachapi Mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County, California. ...
Mojave is a town located in Kern County, California. ...
Johannesburg is a census-designated place located in Kern County, California, in a mining district of the Rand Mountains. ...
See also View of the San Gabreil Fault The San Gabriel Fault is a geological fault that forms the boundary of the southern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and running about 87 miles (140 kilometers). ...
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