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Investigating Fault System Deformation With Numerical Models And Analog Experiments, Justin W. Herbert

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation aims to understand fault system deformation using numerical models and analog experiments. In southern California, the southern Big Bend of the San Andreas fault (SAF) is a zone of transpression that accommodates deformation associated with the Pacific-North American plate boundary. Using three-dimensional boundary element method (BEM) models, I test the sensitivity of fault slip rates to a range of tectonic boundary conditions constrained by Global Positioning System (GPS) studies of the region (45–50 mm/yr and 320°– 325°). I have modified fault configurations derived from the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Fault Model of the San Gorgonio knot and …