Tertiary volcanic stratigraphy of the Diamond and Fort Sage Mountains, northeastern California and western Nevada: Implications for development of the northern Walker Lane

The Honey Lake fault zone is one of four mayor, northwest-striking, right-lateral faults comprising the northern Walker Lane. GPS geodetic measurements indicate that the northern Walker Lane accommodates ∼10% of relative motion between the North American and Pacific plates. Regional relations suggest that movement on this strike-slip fault system began ∼6 to 3 Ma. The Holocene slip rate along the Honey Lake fault zone has been estimated at 1.1 to 2.6 mm/yr (Wills and Borchardt, 1993), but cumulative slip has not previously been constrained.; Multiple Oligocene ash-flow tuffs were erupted from calderas in central Nevada and deposited in paleovalleys in western Nevada and northeast California. These paleovalleys provide potential piercing lines by which to gauge offset across the strike-slip faults in the northern Walker Lane.; Ash-flow tuffs were therefore examined in the Diamond and Fort Sage Mountains, which lie on the west and east sides of the Honey Lake fault zone, respectively. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...