Neotectonics of the Red Rock fault-Northern Yellowstone Hotspot Wake

This research comprised the MS thesis of Harkins (Pazzaglia collaborator) and is funded by two USGS-EDMAP grants. Surficial, soil, and fan mapping along the Red Rock fault in southwestern Montana has identified three fault segments along this still active range-bounding normal fault, with more surface ruptures and greater fault displacement on the southern segment, and a kinematic history related to passage of the Yellowstone hotspot. The sensitivities of geomorphic indicators of tectonism are also being evaluated. Results indicate that surface ruptures are more sensitive to  segment identification than hanging wall fan response and footwall river incision, which show quicker response times than footwall drainage basin evolution as expressed by GIS-DEM topographic indices. (Harkins et al. in prep.). Work continues to explore large-scale landscape evolution in the northern Basin and Range province.