A new interpretation of deformation rates in the Snake River Plain and adjacent basin and range regions based on GPS measurements

We evaluate horizontal Global Positioning System (GPS) velocities together with geologic, volcanic, and seismic data to interpret extension, shear, and contraction within the Snake River Plain and the Northern Basin and Range Province, U.S.A. We estimate horizontal surface velocities using GPS data collected at 385 sites from 1994 to 2009 and present an updated velocity field within the Stable North American Reference Frame (SNARF). Our results show an ENE-oriented extensional strain rate of 5.9 {+-} 0.7 x 10{sup -9} yr{sup -1} in the Centennial Tectonic belt and an E-oriented extensional strain rate of 6.2 {+-} 0.3 x 10{sup -9} yr{sup -1} in the Intermountain Seismic belt combined with the northern Great Basin. These extensional strain rates contrast with the regional north-south contraction of -2.6 {+-} 1.1 x 10{sup -9} yr{sup -1} calculated in the Snake River Plain and Owyhee-Oregon Plateau over a 125 x 650 km region. Tests that include dike-opening reveal that rapid extension by dike intrusion in volcanic rift zones does not occur in the Snake River Plain at present. This slow internal deformation in the Snake River Plain is in contrast to the rapidly-extending adjacent Basin and Range provinces and implies shear along boundaries of the Snakemore » River Plain. We estimate right-lateral shear with slip rates of 0.5-1.5 mm/yr along the northwestern boundary adjacent to the Centennial Tectonic belt and left-lateral oblique extension with slip rates of 10{sup 6} yrs, the low-strain field in the Snake River Plain and Owyhee-Oregon Plateau would extend through the Quaternary.« less

[1]  D. Mabey.  Interpretation of a gravity profile across the western Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1976 .

[2]  E. Humphreys,et al.  Crustal velocity structure across the eastern Snake River Plain and the Yellowstone swell , 1998 .

[3]  Late Pleistocene – Holocene ruptures of the Lima Reservoir fault, SW Montana , 2010 .

[4]  J. Vervoort,et al.  Migrating magmatism in the northern US Cordillera: in situ U–Pb geochronology of the Idaho batholith , 2010 .

[5]  F. Sigmundsson,et al.  Rheologic controls on inter-rifting deformation of the Northern Volcanic Zone, Iceland , 2009 .

[6]  L. C. Pakiser.  Chapter 13: Geophysics of the Intermontane system , 1989 .

[7]  T. Herring,et al.  Introduction to GAMIT/GLOBK , 2006 .

[8]  Contemporary tectonic motion of the eastern Snake River Plain: A campaign global positioning system study , 2007 .

[9]  Anna B. Wilson,et al.  Preliminary integrated geologic map databases for the United States : Central states : Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana , 2005 .

[10]  M. Cummings,et al.  Stratigraphic and structural evolution of the middle Miocene synvolcanic Oregon-Idaho graben , 2000 .

[11]  S. Hughes,et al.  Thermal structure beneath the Snake River Plain: Implications for the Yellowstone hotspot , 2009 .

[12]  W. Hackett,et al.  Extension of the Yellowstone plateau, eastern Snake River Plain, and Owyhee plateau , 1990 .

[13]  A microearthquake survey of parts of the Snake River plain and central Idaho , 1974 .

[14]  William P. Leeman,et al.  K-Ar dating, Quaternary and Neogene volcanic rocks of the Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1975 .

[15]  Takuya Nishimura,et al.  Rheology of the lithosphere inferred from postseismic uplift following the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake , 2002 .

[16]  D. Champion,et al.  Geologic Map of the Craters of the Moon 30' x 60' Quadrangle, Idaho , 2007 .

[17]  C. Rizos,et al.  The International GNSS Service in a changing landscape of Global Navigation Satellite Systems , 2009 .

[18]  W. McIntosh,et al.  Timing and development of the Heise volcanic field, Snake River Plain, Idaho, western USA , 2005 .

[19]  K. Dueker,et al.  Imaging Yellowstone plume‐lithosphere interactions from inversion of ballistic and diffusive Rayleigh wave dispersion and crustal thickness data , 2008 .

[20]  Richard G. Gordon,et al.  Statistical tests of additional plate boundaries from plate motion inversions , 1984 .

[21]  Kenneth L. Pierce,et al.  Is the track of the Yellowstone hotspot driven by a deep mantle plume? - Review of volcanism, faulting, and uplift in light of new data , 2009 .

[22]  S. Hemming,et al.  Neogene tephra correlations in eastern Idaho and Wyoming: Implications for Yellowstone hotspot-related volcanism and tectonic activity , 2009 .

[23]  Marc L. Sbar,et al.  Contemporary tectonics and seismicity of the Western United States with emphasis on the Intermountain Seismic Belt , 1974 .

[24]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  Crustal structure of the Eastern Snake River Plain determined from ray trace modeling of seismic refraction data , 1982 .

[25]  N. McQuarrie,et al.  Extension and Subsidence of the Eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho , 2002 .

[26]  R. Mccaffrey.  Time‐dependent inversion of three‐component continuous GPS for steady and transient sources in northern Cascadia , 2009 .

[27]  R. Duncan,et al.  Geochronology of age-progressive volcanism of the Oregon High Lava Plains : implications for the plume interpretation of Yellowstone , 2004 .

[28]  M. Bouin,et al.  Presentation on Regional Network Processing: Snarf 2.0: a Regional Reference Frame for North America , 2008 .

[29]  Robert L. Christiansen,et al.  The Quaternary and Pliocene Yellowstone plateau volcanic field of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana , 2001 .

[30]  Mark A. Richards,et al.  Origin of the Columbia Plateau and Snake River plain: Deflection of the Yellowstone plume , 1993 .

[31]  Kenneth W. Hudnut,et al.  Southern California Permanent GPS Geodetic Array: Continuous measurements of regional crustal deformation between the 1992 Landers and 1994 Northridge earthquakes , 1997 .

[32]  Diane I. Doser,et al.  Source parameters of the 28 October 1983 Borah Peak, Idaho, earthquake from body wave analysis , 1985 .

[33]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  Density and lithospheric strength models of the Yellowstone–Snake River Plain volcanic system from gravity and heat flow data , 2009 .

[34]  J. Beavan,et al.  Rapid microplate rotations and backarc rifting at the transition between collision and subduction , 2005 .

[35]  M. Stickney,et al.  Seismicity and late Quaternary faulting of the northern basin and range province, Montana and Idaho , 1987 .

[36]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  Intraplate deformation and microplate tectonics of the Yellowstone hot spot and surrounding western U.S. interior , 2009 .

[37]  William C. Hammond,et al.  Contemporary tectonic deformation of the Basin and Range province, western United States: 10 years of observation with the Global Positioning System , 2004 .

[38]  Recent magmatotectonic activity in the Eastern Snake River Plain–Island Park region revealed by SAR interferometry , 2009 .

[39]  S. Hughes,et al.  Kinematic analysis of fractures in the Great Rift, Idaho: Implications for subsurface dike geometry, crustal extension, and magma dynamics , 2008 .

[40]  Kenneth L. Pierce,et al.  The track of the Yellowstone hot spot--volcanism, faulting and uplift , 1990 .

[41]  R. King,et al.  Strain rates and contemporary deformation in the Snake River Plain and surrounding Basin and Range from GPS and seismicity , 2008 .

[42]  John W. Shervais,et al.  Lithospheric topography, tilted plumes, and the track of the Snake River–Yellowstone hot spot , 2008 .

[43]  N. Sleep,et al.  Magmatism and extension: The thermal and mechanical effects of the Yellowstone Hotspot , 1992 .

[44]  P. Segall,et al.  Transient deformation following the 30 January 1997 dike intrusion at Kīlauea volcano, Hawai’i , 2007 .

[45]  N. McQuarrie,et al.  Subsidence of a volcanic basin by flexure and lower crustal flow: The eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1998 .

[46]  G. Blewitt,et al.  Evidence for an active shear zone in southern Nevada linking the Wasatch fault to the Eastern California shear zone , 2010 .

[47]  G. Andrews,et al.  Rhyolitic ignimbrites in the Rogerson Graben, southern Snake River Plain volcanic province: volcanic stratigraphy, eruption history and basin evolution , 2007, Bulletin of Volcanology.

[48]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  Seismicity of the Intermountain Seismic Belt , 1991 .

[49]  T. Dixon,et al.  Geodetic GPS measurements in south Iceland: Strain accumulation and partitioning in a propagating ridge system , 2005 .

[50]  Kenneth L. Pierce,et al.  Chapter 1: The track of the Yellowstone hot spot: Volcanism, faulting, and uplift , 1992 .

[51]  Tom Simkin,et al.  Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions , 2013 .

[52]  Daniel Dzurisin,et al.  Uplift, thermal unrest and magma intrusion at Yellowstone caldera , 2006, Nature.

[53]  W. Hart,et al.  Lithosphere-scale thrusting in the western U.S. Cordillera as constrained by Sr and Nd isotopic transitions in Neogene volcanic rocks , 1992 .

[54]  Mel A. Kuntz,et al.  Chapter 12: An overview of basaltic volcanism of the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1992 .

[55]  W. Leeman,et al.  Snake River Plain – Yellowstone silicic volcanism: implications for magma genesis and magma fluxes , 2008 .

[56]  D. Coblentz,et al.  North American dynamics and western U.S. tectonics , 2007 .

[57]  Ivan G. Wong,et al.  Contemporary seismicity in the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho based on microearthquake monitoring , 1993 .

[58]  E. Humphreys,et al.  Upper mantle P wave velocity structure of the eastern Snake River Plain and its relationship to geodynamic models of the region , 1997 .

[59]  D. Hill,et al.  Seismic-Refraction Study of Crustal Structure between the Nevada Test Site and Boise, Idaho , 1967 .

[60]  N. Bondre.  FIELD AND GEOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF BASALTIC MAGMATISM IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES AND WESTERN INDIA , 2006 .

[61]  Tim J. Wright,et al.  Magma-maintained rift segmentation at continental rupture in the 2005 Afar dyking episode , 2006, Nature.

[62]  Robert W. King,et al.  Fault locking, block rotation and crustal deformation in the Pacific Northwest , 2007 .

[63]  Robert McCaffrey,et al.  Block kinematics of the Pacific-North America plate boundary in the southwestern United States from inversion of GPS, seismological, and geologic data , 2005 .

[64]  S. Mertzman,et al.  Genesis of post-hotspot, A-type rhyolite of the Eastern Snake River Plain volcanic field by extreme fractional crystallization of olivine tholeiite , 2007, Bulletin of Volcanology.

[65]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  The Teton fault, Wyoming: Topographic signature, neotectonics, and mechanisms of deformation , 1994 .

[66]  J. D. Forrester,et al.  Geologic map of Idaho , 1945 .

[67]  T. Parsons,et al.  More than one way to stretch: a tectonic model for extension along the plume track of the Yellowstone hotspot and adjacent Basin and Range Province , 1998 .

[68]  Kenneth G. Dueker,et al.  Crustal structure and thickness along the Yellowstone hot spot track: Evidence for lower crustal outflow from beneath the eastern Snake River Plain , 2010 .

[69]  William H. Press,et al.  Numerical recipes , 1990 .

[70]  J. Farrell,et al.  Accelerated Uplift and Magmatic Intrusion of the Yellowstone Caldera, 2004 to 2006 , 2007, Science.

[71]  D. Draper.  Late cenozoic bimodal magmatism in the northern Basin and Range Province of southeastern Oregon , 1991 .

[72]  J. C. Savage,et al.  Strain accumulation and rotation in the Eastern California Shear Zone , 2001 .

[73]  Michael I. Jordan,et al.  Geodynamics of the Yellowstone hotspot and mantle plume: Seismic and GPS imaging, kinematics, and mantle flow , 2009 .

[74]  Robert McCaffrey,et al.  Crustal Block Rotations and Plate Coupling , 2013 .

[75]  John W. Geissman,et al.  Parabolic distribution of circumeastern Snake River Plain seismicity and latest Quaternary faulting: Migratory pattern and association with the Yellowstone hotspot , 1989 .

[76]  Steven R. Anderson,et al.  Tension cracks, eruptive fissures, dikes, and faults related to late Pleistocene-Holocene basaltic volcanism and implications for the distribution of hydraulic conductivity in the eastern Snake River Plain, Idaho , 2002 .

[77]  W. McIntosh,et al.  Miocene silicic volcanism in southwestern Idaho: geochronology, geochemistry, and evolution of the central Snake River Plain , 2007, Bulletin of Volcanology.

[78]  R. Allmendinger,et al.  Tectonic heredity and the layered lower crust in the Basin and Range Province, western United States , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[79]  R. D. Lawrence.  Strike-slip faulting terminates the Basin and Range province in Oregon , 1976 .

[80]  J. Shervais,et al.  Continental basalts of the Boise River Group near Smith Prairie, Idaho , 1992 .

[81]  W. D. Richins,et al.  The 1983 Borah Peak, Idaho, earthquake and its aftershocks , 1987 .

[82]  John W. Shervais,et al.  Layered mafic sill complex beneath the eastern Snake River Plain: Evidence from cyclic geochemical variations in basalt , 2006 .

[83]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  The Yellowstone hotspot , 1994 .

[84]  Walter H. F. Smith,et al.  New, improved version of generic mapping tools released , 1998 .

[85]  P. England,et al.  Tectonomagmatic evolution of Cenozoic extension in the North American Cordillera , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[86]  Fred F. Pollitz,et al.  Postseismic relaxation theory on the spherical earth , 1992 .

[87]  G. Blewitt,et al.  Block modeling of crustal deformation of the northern Walker Lane and Basin and Range from GPS velocities , 2011 .

[88]  Robert B. Smith,et al.  Crustal deformation of the Yellowstone–Snake River Plain volcano-tectonic system: Campaign and continuous GPS observations, 1987–2004 , 2007 .

[89]  W. Hart,et al.  Areal distribution and age of low-K, high-alumina olivine tholeiite magmatism in the northwestern Great Basin , 1984 .

[90]  M. Rubin,et al.  Radiocarbon Studies of Latest Pleistocene and Holocene Lava Flows of the Snake River Plain, Idaho: Data, Lessons, Interpretations , 1986, Quaternary Research.