Where Does the Seattle Fault End? Structural Links and Kinematic Implications

The Seattle fault is one of several east-trending compressional structures in the Puget Lowland (PL), seemingly at odds with the northeasterly oriented compression along the Juan de Fuca subduction zone. The existence of these faults is thought to be related to the northward movement of a strong Oregon forearc block. A weaker PL block accommodates north-south shortening between Siletzia and the slower-moving Canadian Coast Mountains to the north. The northward movement of the PL requires either the Cascade and Olympic Mountains to move northward and shorten at nearly the same rate as the PL, or the existence of strike-slip accommodation zones bounding the PL. We use results from three study areas along the Seattle fault to constrain its behavior: the westward terminus at the foot of the Olympic Mountains, its central reach near Bainbridge Island and its eastward terminus in the Cascade foothills near Fall City, WA. Geologic map data, trench observations across faults, Lidar topographic scarp observations, seismic reflection profiles and potential field anomalies are integrated to determine fault structure. These data indicate that the Seattle fault extends further east and west than previously thought. This suggests its connection to strike-slip fault zones bounding the east (Rattlesnake Mountain fault zone, right-lateral) and west (Saddle Mountain deformation zone, left-lateral) ends of the fault. Gravity and aeromagnetic anomalies along the Seattle fault are best modeled by a fairly simple, reverse fault (dipping south 35-50 degrees). The strike of the proposed PL-block bounding faults suggests a kinematic explanation for the existence, position and dip of the Seattle fault and other east-striking compressional structures in the region. An analog (clay) model illustrates the growth of both the Seattle uplift and the Kingston arch resulting from these proposed kinematic bounding conditions. The strike-slip faults form a crustal "funnel", narrowing to the north, which squeezes the PL block from the east and west as it moves northward. The reverse Seattle fault results from a buckling of the PL which accommodates both north-south shortening and east-west space accommodation problems. East-west compression is supported by transpression on both the Rattlesnake Mountain and Saddle Mountain deformation zones. The latitude of the Seattle fault corresponds with the most abrupt narrowing of the "funnel" at the southward terminus of the Olympic Mountains-bounding fault zone, which suggests a correlation between the position of the east-striking thrust faults in the PL and strain accommodation in the Olympic Mountains.