VML Dating of Faulting Events, Death Valley


Figure Caption:   Late Quaternary alluvial-fan surfaces offset by normal faulting events at the base of Hanaupah Canyon fan in Death Valley, California (left panel) and optical microstratigraphies of rock varnish from these geomorphic surfaces (right panel). Varnish-based age estimates indicate that a major faulting event (F1) occurred sometime between 30 and 12.5 ka, which offset the older Qf(LU-4) fan unit, and that a subsequent minor faulting event (F2) occurred after 12.5 ka, which offset the younger Qf(LU-2) fan unit.



Figure Caption:   Late Holocene alluvial-fan surfaces offset by a recent faulting event on the Death Valley Fault Zone (DVFZ), about 1.25 km south of the Furnace Creek junction along California State Highway 178 (upper panel) and optical microstratigraphies of rock varnish from these geomorphic surfaces (lower panel). Varnish-based age estimates indicate that this faulting event occurred sometime between 1.4 ka and 0.9 ka, and most likely around 1.1 ka if a lag time of about 200 years is assumed for varnish initiation on the fault scarp (Liu and Broecker, 2006).