Reinvestigation of fault trace complexity and slip distribution for the 16 December 1954 Fairview Peak (Ms = 7. 2) and Dixie Valley (Ms = 6. 8) earthquakes, Central Nevada

With the use of 1:12K scale low-sun angle photography, the authors have traversed and mapped details of the surface trace and slip distribution of the 1954 Fairview Peak (FVP) earthquake ruptures. The FVP earthquake produced a complex pattern of surface faulting along a 50 km long, 6 km wide, north striking zone and was followed 4 minutes later by the Dixie Valley event. Surface ruptures of the Dixie Valley event extend northward for 45 km along the west side of Dixie Valley and are separated from the FVP ruptures by a 6 km step in the mapped trace of the surface ruptures. Prior measurements of fault offsets (Slemmons, 1957) are few and available maps are relatively small scale. The initial purpose of the effort is therefore to document the sense, amount, and distribution of surface offsets along both fault systems. The results will form the basis to construct a 3-dimensional model of the fault system and to examine the static stress field changes along the Dixie Valley fault induced by the preceding FVP earthquake.