Quaternary Fault and Fold Database of the United States

qfaults web comp As of January 12, 2017, the USGS maintains a limited number of metadata fields that characterize the Quaternary faults and folds of the United States. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the interactive fault map.

Raymond fault (Class A) No. 103

Last Review Date: 2000-06-01

citation for this record: Treiman, J.A., and Bryant, W.A., compilers, 2000, Fault number 103, Raymond fault, in Quaternary fault and fold database of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey website, https://earthquakes.usgs.gov/hazards/qfaults, accessed 05/10/2024 12:56 AM.

Synopsis Holocene active steeply north-dipping sinistral strike slip fault. Fault location is well known from geomorphic expression and mapping (Buwalda, 1940 #5954; Crook and others, 1987 #5956). In addition, several trenching studies have provided data on Holocene activity (Crook and others, 1987 #5956; Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928). Crook and others (1987 #5956) reported a recurrence interval of 3,000 to 4,500 yr, and Marin and others (2000 #5960) reported a minimum sinistral slip rate of 1.5 mm/yr.
Name comments Recognition of a generalized fault zone in this vicinity was first published by Lawson and others (1908 #5925); the greater portion of the Raymond fault (east from Arroyo Seco) was first mapped in a more specific fashion by Miller (1928 #5961); "Raymond fault", a name apparently already in use, was published by Eckis (1934 #5957, p. 127). "Raymond Hill fault" reportedly used by Johnson and Warren (1927 #5958) as cited by Yerkes and others (1965 #5930); fault is also part of "Santa Monica segment" of the "Anacapa Lineament" of Hill (1928 #4959) and the "Santa Monica fault system" of Barbat (1958 #5953).

Fault ID: Refers to number 394 (Raymond fault) of Jennings (1994 #2878) and number 81 (Raymond fault) of Ziony and Yerkes (1985 #5931).
County(s) and State(s) LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Physiographic province(s) PACIFIC BORDER
Reliability of location Good
Compiled at 1:24,000 scale.

Comments: Location of fault from Qt_flt_ver_3-0_Final_WGS84_polyline.shp (Bryant, W.A., written communication to K.Haller, August 15, 2017) attributed to Weber and others (1980 #7951), Crook and others (1987 #5956), and Treiman (1991 #8323, 2013 #7952) .

Geologic setting North dipping sinistral fault is part of east-west fault system (also including Anacapa-Dume [100], Malibu Coast [99], Santa Monica [101], and Hollywood [102] faults) that has accommodated 80° of clockwise rotation of the western Transverse Ranges and perhaps as much as 60 km sinistral slip since early Miocene (Hornafius and others, 1986 #5922); with the Hollywood [102]-Santa Monica [101] faults forming the northern limit to the Los Angeles Basin (Yerkes and others, 1965 #5930; Wright, 1991 #5950).

Length (km) 25 km.
Average strike N75°E
Sense of movement Left lateral

Comments: (Jones and others, 1990 #5959; Petersen and others, 1996 #4860; Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928)

Dip 70–80° N.

Comments: Dip based on mapping and corroborated by focal mechanism of 1988 Pasadena earthquake and projection to surface trace (Buwalda, 1940 #5954; Jones and others, 1990 #5959).

Paleoseismology studies Site 103-1, Sierra Madre Boulevard: trench exposed main fault zone and provided data on rupture history prior to most recent event; 14C age control (Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928).

Site 103-2, San Marino High School: trench exposed two branches of fault and provided evidence for multiple rupture events and maximum age for most recent event; 14C age control (Crook and others, 1987 #5956).

Site 103-3, Sunny Slope Reservoir: trench exposed two faults and provided evidence for multiple fault rupture events and maximum age of most recent event; 14C age control (Crook and others, 1987 #5956).

Site 103-4, Eaton Wash: 3-D trenching and 14C age control from deposits incised by latest Pleistocene offset channel established minimum slip-rate (Marin and others, 2000 #5960).

Site 103-5, L.A. County Arboretum: trench across southern strand bounding pressure ridge provided data, building on prior studies, to constrain most recent surface rupture; 14C age control (Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928)

Geomorphic expression The fault is expressed by scarps, pressure ridges, and closed depressions (Bryant, 1978 #5955).

Age of faulted surficial deposits Holocene and late Pleistocene (11–200 ka) alluvial fan deposits and surfaces (Crook and others, 1987 #5956; Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928) are faulted.
Historic earthquake
Most recent prehistoric deformation latest Quaternary (<15 ka)

Comments: The most recent event occurred 1–2 k.y. ago (Crook and others, 1987 #5956; Weaver and Dolan, 2000 #5928).

Recurrence interval 3–4 k.y. (<36 ka)

Comments: Crook and others (1987 #5956) reported a recurrence interval of 3,000 to 4,500 yr, based on the recognition of 8 events in the past 36,000 yr and the assumption that some events were not detected.
Slip-rate category Between 1.0 and 5.0 mm/yr

Comments: Marin and others (2000 #5960) reported a minimum sinistral slip rate of at least 1.5 mm/yr, based on 44 m of sinistral offset of a gravel-filled channel. A single date of 25,400±160 14C yr BP from a charcoal fragment obtained from a silty sand unit in which the offset channel had incised provides a maximum age of displacement. Walls and others (1998 #5927) predict 1.5±0.5 mm/yr based on model; Clark and others (1984 #2876) incorporated in Petersen and Wesnousky (1994 #5962) derive a vertical slip rate of 0.10–0.22 mm/yr from sedimentation rate in sag pond (Crook and others, 1987 #5956) and assume that this rate is equivalent to vertical separation rate. Slip rate assigned by Petersen and others (1996 #4860) for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for the State of California was 0.5 mm/yr (with minimum and maximum assigned slip rates of 0.2 mm/yr and 0.8 mm/yr, respectively).
Date and Compiler(s) 2000
Jerome A. Treiman, California Geological Survey
William A. Bryant, California Geological Survey
References #5953 Barbat, W.F., 1958, The Los Angeles Basin area, California, in Weeks, L.G., ed., Habitat of Oil: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p. 62-77.

#5955 Bryant, W.A., 1978, The Raymond Hill fault, an urban geological investigation: California Geology, v. 31, no. 6, p. 127-142.

#5954 Buwalda, J.P., 1940, Geology of the Raymond basin: Technical report to Pasadena Water Department, 131 p., scale 1:24,000.

#2876 Clark, M.M., Harms, K.H., Lienkaemper, J.J., Harwood, D.S., Lajoie, K.R., Matti, J.C., Perkins, J.A., Rymer, M.J., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Sharp, R.V., Sims, J.D., Tinsley, J.C., III, and Ziony, J.I., 1984, Preliminary slip rate table and map of late Quaternary faults of California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 84-106, 12 p., 5 plates, scale 1:1,000,000.

#5956 Crook, R., Jr., Allen, C.R., Kamb, B., Payne, C.M., and Proctor, R.J., 1987, Quaternary geology and seismic hazard of the Sierra Madre and associated faults, western San Gabriel Mountains, in Recent reverse faulting in the Transverse Ranges, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1339, p. 27–63, scale 1:24,000.

#7950 Dibblee, T.W., Jr., 1989, Geologic map of the Los Angeles quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California: Dibblee Geological Foundation Map #DF-22, scale 1:24,000.

#5957 Eckis, R., 1934, Geology and ground water storage capacity of valley fill: California Division of Water Resources Bulletin 45, 279 p.

#4959 Hill, R.T., 1928, Southern California geology and Los Angeles earthquakes: Los Angeles, Southern California Academy of Sciences, 232 p.

#5922 Hornafius, J.S., Luyendyk, B.P., Terres, R.R., and Kamerling, M.J., 1986, Timing and extent of Neogene tectonic rotation in the western Transverse Ranges, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 97, p. 1476-1487.

#2878 Jennings, C.W., 1994, Fault activity map of California and adjacent areas, with locations of recent volcanic eruptions: California Division of Mines and Geology Geologic Data Map 6, 92 p., 2 pls., scale 1:750,000.

#5958 Johnson, H.R., and Warren, V.C., 1927, Geological and structural conditions of the San Gabriel Valley region: California Division of Water Rights Bulletin 5, p. 73-100.

#5959 Jones, L.M., Sieh, K.E., Hauksson, E., and Hutton, L.K., 1990, The 3 December 1988 Pasadena, California earthquake—Evidence for strike-slip motion on the Raymond fault: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 80, p. 474-482.

#5925 Lawson, A.C., Gilbert, G.K., Reid, H.F., Branner, J.C., Leuschner, A.O., Davidson, G., Burckhalter, C., and Campbell, W.W., 1908, Atlas of maps and seismograms accompanying the report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission upon the California earthquake of April 18, 1906: Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 87.

#5960 Marin, M., Dolan, J.F., Hartleb, R.D., Christofferson, S., Tucker, A., and Owen, L., 2000, A latest Pleistocene-Holocene slip rate on the Raymond fault based on 3D trenching, east Pasadena, California, in Southern California Earthquake Center, 2000 SCEC Annual Meeting, Proceedings and Abstracts, p. 74-75.

#5961 Miller, W.J., 1928, Geomorphology of the southwestern San Gabriel Mountains of California: University of California, Bulletin of the Department of Geological Sciences, v. 17, no. 6, p. 193-240.

#5962 Petersen, M.D., and Wesnousky, S.G., 1994, Review, fault slip rates and earthquake histories for active faults in southern California: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 84, no. 5, p. 1608-1649.

#4860 Petersen, M.D., Bryant, W.A., Cramer, C.H., Cao, T., Reichle, M.S., Frankel, A.D., Lienkaemper, J.J., McCrory, P.A., and Schwartz, D.P., 1996, Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for the State of California: California Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology Open-File Report 96-08 (also U.S. Geological Open-File Report 96-706), 33 p.

#8323 Treiman, J.A., 1991, Part of the Raymond fault on the El Monte quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California: California Division of Mines and Geology Fault Evaluation Report 227, in Fault Evaluation Reports Prepared Under the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act, Region 2 – Southern California: California Geological Survey CGS CD 2002-02 (2002).

#7952 Treiman, J.A., 2013, The Sierra Madre fault zone in the Azusa quadrangle, Los Angeles County, California: California Geological Survey Fault Evaluation Report FER-249, 32 p., 1 supplement, website, [ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/dmg/pubs/fer/249/], map scale 1:24,000.

#5927 Walls, C., Rockwell, T., Mueller, K., Bock, Y., Williams, S., Pfanner, J., Dolan, J., and Fang, P., 1998, Escape tectonics in the Los Angeles metropolitan region and implications for seismic risk: Nature, v. 394, p. 356-360.

#5928 Weaver, K.D., and Dolan, J.F., 2000, Paleoseismology and geomorphology of the Raymond fault, Los Angeles County, California: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, v. 90, p. 1409-1429.

#7951 Weber, F.H., Jr., Bennett, J.H., Chapman, R.H., Chase, G.W., and Saul, R.B., 1980, Earthquake hazards associated with the Verdugo‑Eagle Rock and Benedict Canyon fault zones, Los Angeles County, California: California Division of Mines and Geology Open‑File Report 80‑10.

#5950 Wright, T.L., 1991, Structural geology and tectonic evolution of the Los Angeles Basin, California, in Biddle, K.T., ed., Active margin basin: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 52, p. 35–134.

#5930 Yerkes, R.F., McCulloh, T.H., Schoellhamer, J.E., and Vedder, J.G., 1965, Geology of the Los Angeles Basin, California—An introduction: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 420-A, 57 p.

#5931 Ziony, J.I., and Yerkes, R.F., 1985, Evaluating earthquake and surface faulting potential, in Ziony, J.I., ed., Evaluating earthquake hazards in the Los Angeles region—An earth-science perspective: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1360, p. 43–91.