Growth of Normal Faults - Displacement-Length Scaling

The form of the scaling relation between the displacement and length of faults has been a subject of considerable controversy because of insufficient scale range and scattered data. Here we report on displacement and length data collected from well-exposed normal faults located on the Volcanic Tableland in northern Owens Valley, California. These data, which exhibit little scatter, are from a fault population that spans three orders of magnitude in fault length and were gathered in a relatively uniform lithologic and tectonic setting. With the upper cooling surface of the middle Quaternary Bishop Tuff used as a marker, the displacement distribution along individual faults can be mapped in detail. The displacement distribution profiles are consistent with a linear relation between displacement and fault length.