Remote Identification and Characterization of Fault Scarps Along the Pacific-North American Plate Boundary Using Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM) Data and Wavelet Analysis
Abstract
Remote, automatic identification of the location, relative geomorphic age and orientation of possible fault scarps is explored and evaluated by applying wavelet analysis to high-resolution Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM) topographic data. This methodology compares a scarp model to digital elevation models (DEMs) created from ALSM data collected by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping along major faults in California. Fault scarp degradation is modeled using a diffusive transport rule. This modeled topographic form is used to create a wavelet based on the profile curvature of a scarp that is elongated in the out-of-profile dimension and rotated into a wide variety of orientations. This is convolved with the surface curvature computed from the ALSM DEM to isolate areas where the actual topography best conforms to the template. We present results from swaths constructed along active plate-boundary faults, including the Maacama and Rodgers Creek faults, the Calaveras and Paicines faults, the Green Valley fault, the Eastern California Shear Zone, and major sections of the San Andreas fault. In general, we find that this methodology performs well in automatically identifying previously mapped faults and it hints at the existence of faults that are not mapped. The method also identifies scarp forms that are clearly not created by faults, such as those along linear man-made structures and thus is not a fully automated solution. Future work includes quantification of false positive and negative rates of features identified as fault scarps in areas where the fault geometry has been mapped in the field, as well as the creation and application of a methodology that can identify scarps that are produced by multiple offset events.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.G23A0907S
- Keywords:
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- 1209 GEODESY AND GRAVITY / Tectonic deformation;
- 4302 NATURAL HAZARDS / Geological