A Comparison of two fault scarp segments
of the Santa Rita Fault,
Southern Arizona
By: Ken Fergason
Introduction
The Santa Rita fault is a normal fault associated with Basin and Range extension that is
located in Southeastern Arizona to the south of Tucson. The fault runs for
approximately 58 kilometers along the western piedmont of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Scarp heights range from 1 to 7 meters, and maximum scarp slope angles range from 3º to 9.5º. Quaternary fault movement has occurred only within the last 200 to 300 thousand years with the most recent recent surface rupture occurring approximately 100 th
Two scarp segments located on the Madera Canyon Alluvial Fan were looked at by the
Fall 1998 Advanced Structural Geology class from Arizona State University. The
northern segment was surveyed by the class, and the approximate age was determined
to be 100 thousand years before present using the diffusion-equation analysis published
by Thomas Hanks. No data was taken from the southern segment, but observations
were made.
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