Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/jplnews2/1233.pr

Text File | 1993-05-03 | 3KB | 61 lines

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE [phone]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 15, 1989




    Several previously unknown geological faults, some
of which may be active, have been discovered in the central
and eastern Mojave Desert in California by geologists at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Louisiana State University
analyzing images from an Earth-orbiting Landsat satellite.
    The strike-slip faults were identified by images
taken by the Thematic Mapper (TM) instrument on Landsat 5,
which obtains images simultaneously in seven bands at optical
and infrared wavelengths.  Scientists used the TM images as a
"map" which pointed them in the right direction to locate and
confirm the faults in the field.
    JPL's Dr. John Ford, who helped locate and verify
the faults in the field, said that "without Thematic Mapper
images we would not have found the faults and TM images may
enable us to find many more unmapped faults in the Mojave."
    The newly observed faults are located in and near
the unpopulated Bristol Mountains and Cady Mountains.
Scientists have determined that the faults in the Bristol
Mountains are overlain by unconsolidated alluvial fan debris
(gravel) and are probably inactive.  In contrast, faults
lying to the west (Cady Mountains) cut all deposits and are


seismically active.  The faults all form part of a complex
regional network of right-slip faults that run between the
Death Valley region and the San Andreas Fault System.
    The newly observed faults are much smaller and less
active than the San Andreas Fault but they all show evidence
of a strike slip, Ford said.  During an earthquake, movement
on a strike-slip fault is dominantly horizontal and parallel
to the trend of the fault.  Scientists are now trying to
determine how the newly observed faults fit into the regional
structure in this part of the Earth's crust.
    The faults add new pieces to the geological puzzle
of how the Death Valley Fault zone and the San Andreas Fault
system are related in space and time.  The presence of these
newly observed faults indicates that there are other
yet-to-be discovered faults in the area.
    The research is being conducted by geologists Dr.
John P. Ford, Dr. Robert E. Crippen and Dr. Ronald G. Blom of
JPL and Professor Roy K. Dokka of Louisiana State
University's Department of Geology and Geophysics.
    The project is funded by the Land Processes Branch
of NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

#####
3-14-89 MH
# 1233