History of Late Holocene Earthquakes at the Willow Creek Site and on the Nephi Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah
History of Late Holocene Earthquakes at the Willow Creek Site and on the Nephi Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah

Author: Anthony J. Crone

Publisher: Utah Geological Survey

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 65

ISBN-13: 1557918945

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This 43-page report presents new data from the Willow Creek site that provides well-defined and narrow bounds on the times of the three youngest earthquakes on the southern strand of the Nephi segment, Wasatch Fault zone, and refines the time of the youngest earthquake to about 200 years ago. This is the youngest surface rupture on the entire Wasatch fault zone, which occurred about a century or less before European settles arrived in Utah. Two trenches at the Willow Creek site exposed three scarp-derived colluvial wedges that are evidence of three paleoearthquakes. OxCal modeling of ages from Willow Creek indicate that paleoearthquake WC1 occurred at 0.2 ± 0.1 ka, WC2 occurred at 1.2 ± 0.1 ka, and WC3 occurred at 1.9 ± 0.6 ka. Stratigraphic constraints on the time of paleoearthquake WC4 are extremely poor, so OxCal modeling only yields a broadly constrained age of 4.7 ± 1.8 ka. Results from the Willow Creek site significantly refine the times of late Holocene earthquakes on the Southern strand of the Nephi segment, and this result, when combined with a reanalysis of the stratigraphic and chronologic information from previous investigations at North Creek and Red Canyon, yield a stronger basis of correlating individual earthquakes between all three sites.

Alluvial Fan Flooding
Alluvial Fan Flooding

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-10-07

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0309185491

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Alluvial fans are gently sloping, fan-shaped landforms common at the base of mountain ranges in arid and semiarid regions such as the American West. Floods on alluvial fans, although characterized by relatively shallow depths, strike with little if any warning, can travel at extremely high velocities, and can carry a tremendous amount of sediment and debris. Such flooding presents unique problems to federal and state planners in terms of quantifying flood hazards, predicting the magnitude at which those hazards can be expected at a particular location, and devising reliable mitigation strategies. Alluvial Fan Flooding attempts to improve our capability to determine whether areas are subject to alluvial fan flooding and provides a practical perspective on how to make such a determination. The book presents criteria for determining whether an area is subject to flooding and provides examples of applying the definition and criteria to real situations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, and elsewhere. The volume also contains recommendations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is primarily responsible for floodplain mapping, and for state and local decisionmakers involved in flood hazard reduction.

The Oquirrh Fault Zone, Tooele County, Utah
The Oquirrh Fault Zone, Tooele County, Utah

Author: William R. Lund

Publisher: Utah Geological Survey

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13: 1557913706

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The two reports in this Special Study provide critical geologic and paleoseismic information on the Oquirrh fault zone, a Quaternary fault in eastern Tooele County, west-central Utah. The Oquirrh fault zone has long been recognized as a potential source of large earthquakes which could affect military and hazardous waste facilities, nearby towns, and populous areas of the more distant central Wasatch Front. 64 pages + 2 plates

Guidelines for the Geologic Evaluation of Debris-flow Hazards on Alluvial Fans in Utah
Guidelines for the Geologic Evaluation of Debris-flow Hazards on Alluvial Fans in Utah

Author: Richard E. Giraud

Publisher: Utah Geological Survey

Published: 2005-06

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13: 1557917299

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The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) developed these guidelines to help geologists evaluate debris-flow hazards on alluvial fans to ensure safe development. Debris-flow hazard evaluations are particularly important because alluvial fans are the primary sites of debris-flow deposition and are also favored sites for development. The purpose of a debris-flow-hazard evaluation is to characterize the hazard and provide design parameters for risk reduction. The UGS recommends critical facilities and structures for human occupancy not be placed in active debris flow travel and deposition areas unless the risk is reduced to an acceptable level. These guidelines use the characteristics of alluvial fan deposits as well as drainage-basin and feeder-channel sediment-supply conditions to evaluate debris-flow hazards. The hazard evaluation relies on the geomorphology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy of existing alluvial fan deposits. Analysis of alluvial-fan deposits provides the geologic basis for estimating frequency and potential volume of debris flows and describing debris-flow behavior. Drainage-basin and feeder-channel characteristics determine potential debris-flow susceptibility and the volume of stored channel sediment available for sediment bulking in future flows.

Post-Provo Paleoearthquake Chronology of the Brigham City Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah
Post-Provo Paleoearthquake Chronology of the Brigham City Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah

Author: James McCalpin

Publisher: Utah Geological Survey

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13: 1557916713

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This Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication, Post-Provo Paleoearthquake Chronology of the Brigham City Segment, Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, is the eleventh report in the Paleoseismology of Utah series. This series makes the results of paleoseismic investigations in Utah available to geoscientists, engineers, planners, public officials, and the general public. These studies provide critical information on paleoearthquake parameters such as timing, recurrence, displacement, slip rate, and fault geometry which can be used to characterize potential seismic sources and evaluate the long-term seismic hazard presented by Utah’s Quaternary faults. This report presents the results of the most extensive single paleoseismic-trenching project yet conducted on the Wasatch fault zone. The purpose of the study was to lengthen the paleoseismic chronology for the Brigham City segment of the Wasatch fault zone beyond the 6,000-year record previously available, and to resolve questions regarding the irregular pattern of paleoearthquakes reported by earlier workers for the Brigham City segment. This study makes extensive use of radiocarbon, thermoluminescence, and infrared stimulated luminescence dating techniques to develop a real-time chronology of past surface-faulting earthquakes.