Mendocino Fracture Zone

The Mendocino Fracture Zone between the Gorda Plate and Pacific Plate

The Mendocino Fracture Zone is a fracture zone and transform boundary off the coast of Cape Mendocino in far northern California. It runs westward from a triple junction with the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia subduction zone to the southern end of the Gorda Ridge. It continues on west of its junction with the Gorda Ridge, as an inactive remnant section which extends for several hundred miles.

Technically, a fracture zone is not a transform fault, but in the case of the Mendocino, the term has been loosely applied to the active fault segment east of the Gorda Ridge as well as to the true fracture zone segment west of it. Many seismologists refer to the active segment as the Mendocino Fault or Mendocino fault zone. The fault section demarcates the boundary between the northwestward-moving Pacific Plate and the eastward-moving Gorda Plate. The Gorda Plate is subducting beneath the North American Plate just offshore of Cape Mendocino. Where the Mendocino Fault intersects the undersea trench of the subduction zone, it also meets the San Andreas Fault. This seismically active intersection is called a triple junction, and specifically the Mendocino Triple Junction.

History

Robert W. Pease observed in 1965 that the alignment of a transverse tectonic zone extending from Mount Lassen to the Walker Lane at the north end of Honey Lake Fault, suggests it was once the continental terminus of the Mendocino Fault. It forms the boundary of the Modoc Plateau and Columbia Plateau provinces with the Great Basin. Where it meets Honey Lake Fault, it bends to trend northeast across the northwest corner of Nevada, where it accompanies the geological trough that forms Black Rock Desert^[1].

See also

• Blanco Fracture Zone
• List of fracture zones

References

1. ^ Pease, Robert W. (1965). Modoc County; University of California Publications in Geography, Volume 17. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp. 8–9. 

External links

• Mendocino Triple Junction Offshore Northern California
• Geology of the Cape Mendocino, Eureka, Garberville, and Southwestern part of the Hayfork 30 x 60 Minute Quadrangles and Adjacent Offshore Area, Northern California, USGS, 2000
• Cascadia tectonic history

This tectonics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Fracture zones Seismic faults of California Geography of Humboldt County, California Tectonics stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую Finnhorse Novell Forge Password Management Servlets Look at other dictionaries: Mendocino Fracture Zone — ▪ fracture zone, Pacific Ocean        submarine fracture zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean, defined by one of the major transform faults dissecting the spreading centre of the Gorda Ridges. The Mendocino Fracture Zone extends west from… …   Universalium submarine fracture zone — Long, narrow, and mountainous submarine lineation that generally separates ocean floor ridges differing in depth by as much as 1 mi (1.6 km). The largest fracture zones, in the eastern Pacific, are more than 1,000 mi (1,600 km) long and 60–125 mi …   Universalium Mendocino — may mean: Mendocino County, California, USA Mendocino, California, a town in Mendocino County Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County, California Mendocino Brewing Company, a brewery and brewpub located in the county of the same name Mendocino National …   Wikipedia Mendocino Triple Junction — The Mendocino Triple Junction is a geologic triple junction where the San Andreas Fault meets the Mendocino Fault and the Cascadia subduction zone, separating three tectonic plates: the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Gorda Plate …   Wikipedia Cape Mendocino — in Humboldt County, California, USA, is the westernmost point on the coast of California. (Mendocino County lies to the south.) It has been a landmark since the 16th century when the Manila Galleons would reach the coast here following the… …   Wikipedia Death Valley Fault Zone — The Death Valley Fault Zone (DVFZ) is a right lateral moving (dextral) geologic fault in eastern California. It runs from a connection with the Furnace Creek Fault Zone in the Amargosa Valley southward to a junction with the Garlock Fault. It is… …   Wikipedia Newport-Inglewood Fault — The Newport Inglewood Fault is a right lateral fault in Southern California. The fault extends for 75 kilometers (47 mi) from Culver City southeast to Newport Beach at which point it runs out into the Pacific Ocean. The fault can be seen on… …   Wikipedia Chino Fault — The Chino Fault is a fault that extends along the eastern Chino Hills range region, from Corona in Riverside County to the Los Serranos, Chino Hills area of San Bernardino County in Southern California. Geology The Chino Fault and Whittier Fault… …   Wikipedia Maria fold and thrust belt — Ranges, Plains Thrusted Forms Country United States States …   Wikipedia Gorda Ridge — The Gorda Ridge is a tectonic spreading center located off the coast of Oregon and northern California north of Cape Mendocino. It runs from a triple junction with the San Andreas Fault and the Mendocino Fracture Zone northward to another… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”