New Insights on the Southern Coyote Creek Fault
and Superstition Hills
Fault
Afton Van Zandt and Robert J. Mellors
San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182
Recent field work has confirmed an extension of the southern Coyote Creek (CCF) branch of the San Jacinto fault
in the western Salton Trough. The
fault
marks the western edge of an area of subsidence caused by groundwater extraction, and field measurements suggest that recent strike-slip motion has occurred on this
fault
as well. We attempt to determine whether this
fault
connects at depth with the Superstition Hills
fault
(SHF) to the southeast by modeling observed surface deformation between the two faults measured by InSAR. Stacked ERS (descending) InSAR data from 1992 to 2000 is initially modeled using a finite
fault
in an elastic half-space. Observed deformation along the SHF and Elmore Ranch
fault
is modeled assuming shallow (< 5 km) creep. We test various models to explain surface deformation between the two faults.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90076©2008 AAPG Pacific Section, Bakersfield, California