Map of the late Quaternary active Kern Canyon and Breckenridge faults, southern Sierra Nevada, California

In this paper and the accompanying map, C.C. Brossy and colleagues describe the location and activity of the previously uncharacterized Kern Canyon fault, an approx. 135-kilometer-long (~84 miles) fault located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The Kern Canyon fault was interpreted to have been inactive for the past several million years until recently completed seismic hazard studies for the Lake Isabella dams demonstrated that the fault has produced multiple surface-rupturing earthquakes within the past several thousand years.

The fault map presented by Brossy and colleagues shows the interpreted locations of the Kern Canyon fault and the adjacent Breckenridge fault at a level of detail never before published. They describe how the faults are expressed in the landscape and summarize recent advances in the understanding of the level of activity of the Kern Canyon and Breckenridge faults.

The new information in this paper provides a basis characterizing the earthquake potential of the Kern Canyon fault and for assessing earthquake hazard to dams and other engineered infrastructure in the southern Sierra Nevada region.

More information:
C.C. Brossy et al., Fugro Consultants, Inc., 1777 Botelho Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94596, USA. Posted online 11 April; doi: 10.1130/GS663.1

Provided by Geological Society of America