🚀 go-pugleaf

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                           October 27, 1992
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Mary A. Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone:  818/354-5011)

RELEASE:  92-186

NASA SPACEBORNE IMAGING REVEALS UNKNOWN EARTHQUAKE FAULTS

     Geologists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.,
and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, have discovered several previously
unknown earthquake faults in California's northeastern Mojave Desert by
analyzing remote sensing images at optical, infrared and radar wavelengths.

     In a paper presented today at the annual meeting of the Geological Society
of America in Cincinnati, JPL's Dr. John Ford outlined how spaceborne imaging
technology has helped scientists find these newly observed faults, many of
which are located within Fort Irwin, Calif., an active military training area.

     Analysis of the remote sensing images, combined with field observations
and earthquake information, indicate that the area is crossed by many young
faults.  These faults are part of the same system that produced the magnitude
7.5 earthquake that occurred June 28, 1992, at Landers, Calif.

     The faults are visible on computer processed images taken by the Thematic
Mapper instrument on Landsat 5 which obtains images simultaneously in seven
bands at optical and infrared wavelengths.  Corresponding images of the area
from the French SPOT satellite and the NASA airborne synthetic aperture radar
images confirmed the existence of the faults.  Scientists say this study will
lead to better understanding of how the entire system of faults works in
southern California.

     In addition to Ford, the research is being conducted by geologists
Dr. Robert E. Crippen of JPL and Professor Roy K. Dokka of the Department of
Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University.

     The project is funded by NASA's Solid Earth Branch of the Office of Space
Science and Applications, Washington, D.C.  Support and safety control of the
field investigations were provided by the U.S. Army at the National Training
Center, Fort Irwin.

- end -
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | If God had wanted us to 
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | have elections, he would 
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | have given us candidates.