Chapter 6: Chronology of displacement on the San Andreas fault in central California: Evidence from reversed positions of exotic rock bodies near Parkfield, California

Abstract

This chapter presents a synthesis of data pertaining to post-early Miocene slip on the San Andreas fault in central California and suggests a three-phase evolition of the San Andreas system. The cricial evidence that supports the three phases of evolution conies from the reversed positions of two exotic rock fragments in the vicinity of Parkfield, California. The three-phase evolution of the San Andreas is also supported by the correlation of other exotic fragments, the basement rocks on which they lie, overlying Tertiary stratigraphic sequences, and distinctive Miocene strata derived from these fragments during their transport along the fault. The 40-km-long section of the San Andreas fault near Parkfield is characterized by exotic blocks composed of Cretaceous hornblende quartz gabbro at Gold Hill and lower Miocene volcanic rocks in Lang Canyon. The gabbro is correlated petrographically with similar rocks near Eagle Rest Peak, 145 km to the southeast, and near Logan, 165 km to the northwest. The lower Miocene volcanic rocks, informally termed the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon, are correlated with the Neenach Volcanics 220 km to the southeast and the Pinnacles Volcanics 95 km to the northwest. All three fragments of volcanic rocks are unconformably overlain by similar successions of Tertiary sedimentary rocks. The original positions of the bodies of gabbro and volcanic bodies and their overlying sedimentary cover may be reconstructed from these exotic fragments that now lie along the San Andreas fault between San Juan Bautista and the northwestern Mojave Desert. The original undeformed gabbroic body was composed of the hornblende quartz gabbro of Eagle Rest Peak, Gold Hill, and Logan. In its initial prefaulted position, the original gabbroic body lay about 55 km northwest of the early Miocene volcanic assemblage. The undeformed volcanic assemblage was composed of the Neenach Volcanics, Pinnacles Volcanics, and volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon. The original spatial relationship between the undeformed gabbro and volcanic assemblage and their sedimentary cover is preserved in the present position of the gabbro of Logan and the Pinnacles Volcanics. However, in the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas, the gabbro of Gold Hill lies east of the main trace of the San Andreas fault, and the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon lie 2 km west of the fault. The reversed relative positions of the gabbro of Gold Hill and the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon suggest a complex history of movement on the San Andreas fault. Consequently, plainspastic reconstruction of these bodies and their overlying sedimentary cover is constrained by the unusual distribution of exotic blocks near Parkfield. The resulting proposed history of movement is divided into three stages that begins with the eruption of the early Miocene volcanic rocks about 24 Ma. The Neenach-Pinnacles Volcanics, erupted after passage of the Mendocino triple junction, were soon cut by the growing San Andreas transform system. During the first phase of movement the Salinian block, which contains the Pinnacles and Logan godies, was detached from the Mojave and Sierran blocks. The Pinnacles and Logan bodies were transported about 95 km northwest from the Neenach Volcanics and the gabbro of Eagle Rest Peak. At the end of the first phase, the Logan and Pinnacles fragments lay adjacent to the west side of what is now the San Joaquin Valley. Concurrently, fan-deltas deposited debris that was derived from the Gabilan Range, the fan-deltas spread across the San Andreas fault into the middle Miocene sea in the San Joaquin trough. During the second phase of movement, the San Andreas—at least locally—stepped eastward and detached a second fragment from the Neenach Volcanics. This fragment consists of the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon. Slip was transferred to the new trace of the San Andreas fault, and the older trace became completely or largely inactive. After transferral of slip to the new trace of the San Andreas fault, the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon and the Pinnacles Volcanics remained about 95 km apart on the Salinian Block west of the San Andreas fault. During the third phase, the Gold Hill fragement was slivered off the Logan fragment and was tectonically emplaced on the east side of the San Andreas fault when the Logan fragment lay at the latitude of Gold Hill. The process of slivering off of the Gold Hill fragment was accomplished by deformation of the San Andreas in an eastward bend along what is now the Jack Ranch fault. Bending of the fault was stimulated by the presence of highly sheared Franciscan rocks that crop out near the San Andreas and extend to great depth. Eventually the San Andreas bent to such a degree that slip could not be conducted around the bend, and a new, stable, straight segment was formed. The straightening of the fault resulted in slivering of the Gold Hill fragment from the Logan fragment. After detachment of the Gold Hill fragment, the Salinian block containing the gabbro of Logan, the Pinnacles Volcanics, and the volcanic rocks of Lang Canyon was transported an additional 160 km northwest to its present position. This reconstruction honors the current positions of all the related exotic fragments of gabbro, volcanics, and sedimentary rocks. The timing of the sequence of movements required to reconstruct the original bodies suggests that the three phases of evolution of the San Andreas fault in central California are characterized by increasing slip rates. The rate for the first phase probably averaged about 10 mm/yr over a period of about 8 m.y. The rate for the second phase averaged about 8 mm/yr over a period of about 7 m.y. The rate rate for the third phase averaged about 33 mm/yr over a period of about 5 m.y.