A high-resolution seismic CHIRP investigation of active normal faulting across Lake Tahoe Basin, California-Nevada

We measured extension rates across Lake Tahoe Basin for the last 60 k.y. based on measured displacement of offset marker surfaces across three active faults beneath Lake Tahoe. Seismic chirp imaging with submeter accuracy, together with detailed multibeam and light detection and ranging (LIDAR)-derived bathymetry, was used to measure fault offset, thickness of earthquake-derived colluvial wedges, depth of wave-cut paleoterraces, and other geomorphic features. An analysis of these features provides refined estimates of extension rates and new information on Holocene faulting, and places Tahoe Basin deformation into the larger context of Walker Lane and Basin and Range tectonics. Measured offset marker surfaces include submerged wave-cut paleoterraces of Tioga age (19.2 ± 1.8 ka), McKinney Bay slide deposits (ca. 60 ka), and a winnowed boulder surface of Tahoe age (ca. 62 ka). Estimated vertical offset rates across submerged geomorphic surfaces are 0.43-0.81 mm/yr for the West Tahoe fault, 0.35-0.60 mm/yr for the Stateline-North Tahoe fault, and 0.12-0.30 mm/yr for the Incline Village fault. These offset rates indicate a combined east-west extension rate across Lake Tahoe Basin, assuming 60° fault dips, of 0.52-0.99 mm/yr. This estimate, when combined with the Genoa fault-slip rate, yields an extension rate consistent with the magnitude of the extension deficit across Carson Valley and Lake Tahoe Basin derived from global positioning system (GPS) velocities. The Stateline-North Tahoe, Incline Village, and West Tahoe faults all show evidence for individual Holocene earthquake events as recorded by either colluvial wedge deposits or offset fan-delta stratigraphy.