Garlock Fault

Abstract
The Garlock Fault is a fault in southern California and is slightly perpendicular to the San
Andreas Fault. The Garlock fault has a few possibilities for how the eastern end of it ends, but it
is most likely that the Garlock Fault and the Death Valley Fault merge and the Garlock Fault is
deflected. Also the eastern and western ends of the Garlock Fault seem to have different seismic
patterns. The western is a creeping fault while the eastern end has scattered seismic activity and
will have a major earthquake in the future. The Garlock fault has not had activity in about fifty
years and is known to be in a seismic gap.
Introduction
The Garlock Fault is a 265 kilometer long fault that is nearly perpendicular to the San
Andreas Fault (figure 1). The Garlock Fault was discovered by Hess, he was also the man who
named the fault after a town called Garlock. Hess discovered this fault when he was studying the
Randsburg area of the Mojave Desert (figure 2) (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973). Hulin took it
further and mapped the fault when he was studying the Randsburg quadrangle (Davis and
Burchfiel, 1973). The Garlock Fault is wedged between two major regions, the Mojave Desert
block which is made of old low mountain blocks, and it is buried in the western part by basin
deposits. To the north of the Garlock Fault are the Sierra Nevada, Argus, Panamint, and Black
Mountains, which are a region of high and very active fault blocks (Figure 4) (Davis and
Burchfiel, 1973).

The Garlock fault and Big Pine fault (figure 3) have been suggested to have once been
continuous before the disruption of the San Andreas Fault. These two faults, Garlock and Big
Pine, are the reason for the westward bending of the San Andreas Fault (Davis and
Burchfiel,1973). The western end of the Garlock Fault seems to be more understood then the
eastern end, which has a few possibilities to what is actually going on. Also the eastern and
western ends of the fault seem to have two different seismicity patterns from one another. This
paper will discuss the seismicity of both ends of the fault, and the theories of what has happened
to the eastern end of the fault and how it has become known as a transform fault.
Transform structure
The Garlock Fault has said to be a transform structure (Davis and Burfiel,1973). A
transform fault is where the fault neither creates nor destroys the lithosphere; the fault is either
sinistral, left striking, or dextral, right striking. These faults also seem to end abruptly and are
connected on both ends to other faults. This is true of the Garlock fault, it connects on both ends
to other faults, its western end it cut off by the San Andreas Fault, and then continues into the Big
Pine Fault and the eastern end connects to the Death Valley Fault, which is perpendicular to the
Garlock.. The Garlock Fault is said to be an intercontinental transform structure, because one
crustal block has grown wider because of faulting that happened in the late Cenozoic and yet the
Mojave block has not extended much as of yet (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973). Furthermore, the
Garlock fault is like other types of transform structures in that its length is not very consistent.
Although it isnt consistent it should continue to grow with time (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973).
Although this is said, there is a hypothesis that it could not grow as much as thought it would
because the western part of the fault could be cut off by the San Andreas Fault and moved

northward along the San Andreas (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973). It can also be cut off by the Death
Valley fault and not be able to grow anymore in the eastern direction.

The Eastern end

The Eastern end of the Garlock Fault has three hypotheses as to what has happened to it.
The first is that the Garlock Fault once extended past the Death Valley Fault but has been offset
to the south by the Death Valley Fault (Davis and Burchfiel,1973). The second is that the
Garlock Fault terminated at the Death Valley junction and that the 48-64 kilometers that have
been displaced are accounted for in this junction (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973). The third is that
the Garlock Fault crosses the Death Valley fault and extends eastward; this is thought of even
with the doubts of some geologists (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973). It seems though that the most
plausible is that the Garlock Fault does not continue eastward, and it also does not continue
further south. It seems that the Garlock Fault and the Death Valley Fault merge and deflect each
other (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973).
Seismicity
The Garlock Fault is believed to have originated in the early Tertiary time and has been
active throughout the late Cenozoic era. (Astiz and Alle, 1983 ) Studies have suggested that the
displacement of the strike slip of the Garlock Fault may have started as recently as 5.5 million
years ago (Astiz and Allen, 1983). During the Holocene time the Garlock fault has an estimated
slip rate of 7 mm/yr, it also has a recurrence interval for large earthquakes of about 1000500
years (Astiz and Allen,1983). The Garlock fault, San Andrea Fault, and the Big Pine fault are all
major shears that define the strain patter in the east-west extension and the north-south

shortening (Astiz, and Allen, 1983). It has also been suggested that the big bend in the San
Andreas Fault had interrupted once continuous Garlock and big pine fault ( Astiz and Allen,
1983). The Garlock Fault has a short record, 50 years, compared to other faults. This fault can be
broken up into two segments with seismic and aseismic behaviors that are different (Astiz and
Allen, 1983).
The east and west ends of the Garlock Fault have different seismic patterns from one
another. The western end is a creeping fault, and has had a magnitude of about 3 regularly over
the past 50 years. This end had a more continuous pattern then the eastern end ( Astiz and Allen,
1983). It is broken up into two main segments that are about 50 kilometers long, with about two
more shorter segments that do not have as much activity ( Astiz and Allen,1983). On this
western end of the fault, there were no earthquakes that had registered in 1941 and 1947, this
was on the western most 100 kilometers of the fault (Astiz and Allen, 1983).
The eastern end, on the other hand, is not a creeping fault. The eastern end is about 115
kilometers long and has scattered seismic activity, with a magnitude of about 8.The difference in
the two end of the fault are most likely caused by the difference in the strike, which is more
favorable in the western end than in the eastern. With more investigation, trenches being dug
along the fault, it seems that in some parts that there hasnt been a large earthquake in about 500
years (Astiz and Allen, 1983).
Furthermore, the seismicity of the Garlock Fault has been less compared to other faults in
California (Astiz and Allen, 1983). Since the Garlock Fault has not had much activity in the past
fifty years, it is currently in a seismic gap. The eastern section of the fault should be paid close
attention to also, since it has a higher potential for large earthquakes (Astiz and Allen, 1983).

Conclusion
The Garlock fault, is a Transform fault, that is left lateral. This fault, although
continuous, has to ends two it, that both have a different seismic pattern. That Western is a
creeping fault, while the eastern side is more sporadic and will have a large earthquake in the
near future. The Garlock fault, in the Holocene time has about a 7 mm/yr slip rate. Although this
slip rate has been calculated, the Garlock has not had a major event in about 50 years and
therefore is in a seismic gap. The eastern end of the Garlock is a bit tricky, many hypotheses
have been thrown around about how it end or if it continues, but it has been decided that the
eastern end, combines into the Death Valley fault at the junction and is sheared away. Since the
Garlock Fault has two perpendicular faults at each of its ends, the San Andreas in the west, and
the Death Valley fault, in the east, it is unlikely that it will grow longer than it already is.

References
Astiz, Luciana, and Clarence R. Allen. "Seismicity of the Garlock fault, California." Bulletin of
the Seismological Society of America 73.6A (1983): 1721-1734.
Davis, Gregory A., and B. C. Burchfiel. "Garlock fault: An intracontinental transform structure,
southern California." Geological Society of America Bulletin84.4 (1973): 1407-1422.
Hill, M. L., & Dibblee, T. W. (1953). San Andreas, Garlock, and Big Pine faults, California a
study of the character, history, and tectonic significance of their displacements. Geological
Society of America Bulletin, 64(4), 443-458.

Figures

Figure 1: This figure illustrates the area in which the Garlock Fault is located.

Figure 2: Mojave Desert, and where the Garlock is in comparison to it. This is how Hess
discovered the Garlock Fault, exploring the Mojave Desert. (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973)

Figure 3: what the western end of the Garlock looks like and how the Big Pine fault looks as if it
was once connected to the Garlock Fault, and that the San Andreas Fault cut it off and moved it
northward. ( Hill and Dibblee, 1953)

Figure 4: The areas around the Garlock Fault, the Mojave below and the area above, SJV= San
Joaquin Valley, SN= Sierra Nevada, PV= Panamint Valley, DV= death Valley, NR= Nopah
Range, KR= Kingston Range. (Davis and Burchfiel, 1973)