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On simultaneous tilt and creep observations on the San Andreas Fault

Abstract

THE installation of an array of tiltmeters along the San Andreas Fault1 has provided an excellent opportunity to study the amplitude and spatial scale of the tilt fields associated with fault creep. We report here preliminary results from, and some implications of, a search for interrelated surface tilts and creep event observations at four pairs of tiltmeters and creepmeters along an active 20-km stretch of the San Andreas Fault. We have observed clear creep-related tilts above the instrument resolution (10−8 rad) only on a tiltmeter less than 0.5 km from the fault. The tilt events always preceded surface creep observations by 2–12 min, and were not purely transient in character.

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JOHNSTON, M., MCHUGH, S. & BURFORD, R. On simultaneous tilt and creep observations on the San Andreas Fault. Nature 260, 691–693 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260691b0

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