Late Pleistocene to Holocene transtension in the northern Cascadia
forearc: Evidence from surface ruptures along the Beaufort Range fault
Abstract
The active deformation field in subduction forearcs provides critical
information about the stress and strain state of the upper plate and its
potential for seismogenesis. However, these properties are challenging
to quantify in most subduction systems, and in the northern Cascadia
forearc, few faults have been identified that can be used to reconstruct
the upper plate deformation field. Here we investigate the slip history
of the Beaufort Range fault (BRF) on Vancouver Island. This fault was
proposed to host the 1946 M7.3 Vancouver Island earthquake, but no
surface rupture or evidence of Quaternary activity has been documented,
and the stress and strain conditions that promoted this event are poorly
understood. We provide the first evidence that the BRF is active, using
newly-collected lidar to map topographic scarps along the fault system
and to reconstruct slip vectors from offset geomorphic markers.
Quaternary deposits and landforms that show increasing magnitude of
displacement with age provide evidence for at least three M
~6.5-7.5 earthquakes since ~15 ka, with
the most recent event occurring <3-4 ka. Kinematic inversions
of offset geomorphic markers show that the BRF accommodates
right-lateral transtension along a steeply NE-dipping fault. This fault
geometry and kinematics are similar to those modeled for the 1946
earthquake, suggesting that the BRF is a candidate source fault for this
event. We find that the kinematics of the BRF are consistent over
decadal to millennial timescales, suggesting that this portion of the
northern Cascadia forearc has accommodated transtension over multiple
earthquake cycles.