Ages of Prehistoric Earthquakes Revealed by Cosmogenic Chlorine-36 in a Bedrock Fault Scarp at Hebgen Lake

摘要

Cosmogenic chlorine-36 reveals dates of the multiple prehistoric earthquakes that have produced a scarp on the Hebgen Lake fault. Apparent chlorine-36 ages are stratigraphically correct, follow a predicted theoretical pattern, and produce geologically reasonable model ages of 24, 20, 7.0, 2.6, 1.7, and 0.4 thousand years ago. This result demonstrates the feasibility of using cosmogenic chlorine-36 to extract paleoearthquake records from bedrock fault scarps.