HANAUPAH CANYON Level Line (Line 70)

Latitude: N36°13'06.9"
Longitude: W116°53'34.4"

Length: 303.6m
Number of Bench marks: 10

Number of Surveys to 2001: 10
Date of Initial Survey: 2 October 1970
Date of Latest Survey: 26 March 2000


Trespass Permission Required:
Superintendent
National Park Service
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley, CA 92328
(714) 786-2331

Directions:
From Furnace Creek, proceed south toward Badwater, thence southwest on the Westside Road about 5 miles to Shorty's Well. About 100 m south of the Shorty's Well access road is a gravel road bearing west signed Hanaupah Canyon. Turn right and continue about 0.5 mile on the road that proceeds west up the Hanaupah fan (Fig. 1).

Comments:
This short line crosses the Hanaupah fault west of Shorty's well on the west side of Death Valley. The east half of the line is 15 m south of the dirt road that leads up the fan. The line crosses the road at the first, sharp left bend, and it proceeds across the fault in a little canyon incised into the fault scarp (Fig. 1). Bench marks 69 and 70 were added in 1974.

Results:
Height changes among the eight bench marks are less than 1mm between 1974 and 2000 (Fig. 2).

 

Fig. 1. Schematic map of Hanaupah leveling array across the Hanaupah fault, Death Valley.

 

Fig. 2. Graphs of height changes of bench marks, Hanaupah leveling array, October 1970 to March 2000, and topographic profile. Upper graph is for bench marks 71 to 78 and is supposed to be in color. Bench marks 69 and 70 were added in 1974, and their positions are depicted in the topographic profile. The height changes are generally less than 1 mm over the 30 years and are less than the uncertainty, therefore, it is straightforward to conclude that the Hanaupah fault has been inactive at this site between 1974 and 2000.

 

Reference:
Sylvester, A. G., and S. W. Bie, 1986. Geodetic monitoring of fault movements in Death Valley, 1970-1985, pp. 41-44, in Troxel, B. W., editor , Quaternary Tectonics of Southern Death Valley. Field Guide, Pacific Cell, Friends of the Pleistocene, 44 p.



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