Moab Fault

Coordinates: 38°38′N 109°40′W / 38.633°N 109.667°W / 38.633; -109.667

Looking closer and closer at the fault zone reveals more and more faults at smaller and smaller scales. In this sense faulting is fractal.

The Moab Fault, near Moab, Utah, United States, is a well exposed and much studied geological fault. The Moab fault is an extensional fault that runs approximately NW-SE, passing to the west of the Arches National Park. It is about 45 km (28 mi) long and has a maximum displacement of about 960 m (3,150 ft).^[1] The rocks on the SW side of the fault have been lifted up forming steep cliffs of Triassic Wingate sandstone and Chinle formation.

At the north end of the Moab valley, there is a fault transfer zone, where the fault steps east. This zone transfers the displacement along the fault from one segment to another. Within this zone there is very dense faulting. This is revealed in the road cutting for Highway 191 as seen in this picture taken from the nearby Arches National Park visitor centre.

Fault damage zones have great commercial interest to petroleum geoscientists as they can dramatically affect the performance of hydrocarbon reservoirs.

References

↑ Foxford K.A., Walsh J.J., Watterson J., Garden I.R., Guscott S.C. & Burley S.D. (1998). "Structure and content of the Moab fault zone, Utah, USA, and its implications for fault seal prediction". In Jones G., Fisher Q.J. & Knipe R.J. Faulting, fault sealing and fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Special Publications. 147. London: Geological Society. pp. 87–103. ISBN 9781862390225.

Significant seismically active faults of North America

North America
(crosses national borders)

Alaska-Aleutian megathrust (US-RU)
Basin and Range Province (US-MX)
Cascadia subduction zone (US-CA)
Clarendon-Linden fault system (US-CA)
Denali Fault (US-CA)
Northern Cordilleran Volcanic Province (CA-US)
Puget Sound faults (US-CA)
Rio Grande rift (US-MX)
San Andreas Fault (US-MX)
Southern Great Lakes Seismic Zone (US-CA)
Tintina Fault (US-CA)

Canada

United States

Washington and Oregon	Brothers Fault Zone Olympic-Wallowa Lineament Puget Sound (Seattle Fault, Tacoma Fault) Walker Lane

California	Calaveras Fault Garlock Fault Hayward Fault Zone Mendocino Fracture Zone Newport–Inglewood Fault Puente Hills Fault Rose Canyon Fault San Jacinto Fault Zone (Elsinore Fault Zone)

Great Basin	Independence Valley fault system Moab Fault Teton Fault Wasatch Fault

Great Plains	Central Oklahoma Fault Zone Humboldt Fault Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system Nemaha Fault Zone Wilzetta Fault

Midwest	Marianna Fault New Madrid Seismic Zone Sandwich Fault Zone Wabash Valley Seismic Zone

Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic Coast	Aiken-Augusta Fault Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone Middleton Place-Summerville Seismic Zone (Woodstock Fault) Northern Appalachians Seismic Zone Ramapo Fault Virginia Seismic Zone

Caribbean & Mexico

Cayman Trough
Chixoy-Polochic Fault
Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone (Cuba)
Gulf of California Rift Zone
Lesser Antilles subduction zone
Middle America Trench (Central America)
Motagua Fault (Central America)
Pedro Miguel Fault
Puerto Rico Trench

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.