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![Location of the Pajarito Fault system with respect to the Rio Grande rift in northern New Mexico. Simplified Fault system shown. Modified from Lewis et al. (2009). Pajarito Fault (PF), Rendija Canyon Fault (RCF), Guaje Mountain Fault (GMF), Sawyer Canyon Fault (SCF), Embudo Fault System (EFS).]()
![Three-dimensional model of the main faults of the Pajarito fault system and their geometric relations in the subsurface. The principal east-dipping fault strands are shown penetrating at a high angle to the base of the brittle crust (e.g., Baldridge et al., 1995). Large black arrows show regional extension direction (from Zoback et al., 1981). Small black arrows and thin black lines on fault planes suggest probable slip directions. Blue lines are monoclinal fold axes. Horizontal and vertical scales are the same. MPF—main Pajarito fault; RCF—Rendija Canyon fault; SCF—Sawyer Canyon fault; GMF—Guaje Mountain fault; WS—west splay; ES—east splay.]()
![Diagrammatic two-dimensional cross sections showing along-strike variations in range of possible dips for the main Pajarito fault (MPF), Rendija Canyon fault (RCF), Guaje Mountain fault (GMF), and northern Pajarito fault, and their geometric relations in the subsurface. Scale bar on left side of each panel indicates depth (km) below surface. Numbers shown adjacent to faults are dips. Colors added for clarity; red-orange-yellow indicate dips of 75°, 60°, and 45°, respectively, on the MPF, and purple-violet-green-blue indicate dips of 90°, 80°, 70°, and 60°, respectively, on the RCF and GMF. Locations of sections S1 through S7 are shown in Figure 3.]()
![Location map of the central Pajarito Plateau. Yellow shaded area is the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Also shown are the municipalities of Los Alamos and White Rock. East- and southeast-trending canyons are incised into the plateau. Water supply wells are shown as blue stars and the water supply well fields are indicated in blue shading; additional wells of Guaje well field extend north of this map. The Buckman well field provides water to Santa Fe. Water supply wells LA-1 through LA-6 are no longer used for municipal water production. New regional aquifer wells installed since 1998 are shown as red dots. Older test wells are shown as black dots. Line A–A′ shows location of cross section in Fig. 5. Main elements of the Pajarito fault zone are shown in blue. PFZ is the main trace of the Pajarito fault zone, RCF is the Rendija Canyon fault, GMF is the Guaje Mountain fault, and DDG is the Diamond Drive graben. Faults modified from Gardner et al. (2001) and Lewis et al. (2002).]()
![South-to-north profile of the Pajarito fault system (PFS) showing variation in throw with distance along the fault system. Measurements of throw on individual faults are plotted as triangles, summed distributed deformation is plotted as squares, and total throw is plotted as dashed lines. Based on map patterns of faults (few if any faults form a V across canyons in map view), we assume that throw is approximately equivalent to dip separation. All faults are plotted with positive throw, although some are antithetic and offset geologic units down to the west (dtw). Observed dtw distributed deformation in the hanging wall of the PF is plotted as negative throw only to make these measurements easier to see. Measurements by other investigators are incorporated where land access issues prevented visiting sites or where no new data on contacts were available. The best measurement available for throw on the Santa Clara Canyon fault is by Golombek (1981), who estimated ~100 m down-to-the-east (dte) on Bandelier Tuff; we have not been able to confirm that estimate due to access restrictions. We estimate 107 m distributed dte throw at Quemazon Mesa (Animation 1), 115 m south of Los Alamos Canyon, 145 m between Pajarito Canyon and Cañon de Valle, and 120 m at Water Canyon. Summed throw in this sector includes estimates made by Carter and Gardner (1996) on the Rendija Canyon fault (RCF) and Guaje Mountain fault (GMF) and by Gardner et al. (1999) on the southern tail of the RCF. The estimate of 90 m dte throw on the west splay near Tent Rocks comes from Smith et al. (2001). Distance grid is in State Plane coordinate system, New Mexico Central Zone, NAD83. Included here are several strands not discussed in text, i.e., the Stone Lions splay (Reneau, 2000) and the Dixon fault (Aby, 1997). MPF aggregate is the sum of dtw and dte throw on small-displacement faults in the footwall block of the MPF; it does not include throw on the MPF, where that is delimited by cross sections. PFS sum includes throw on all mapped splays of the fault system where a reliable estimate of throw is available. HW—hanging wall.]()
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1-15 OF 15 RESULTS FOR
Rendija Canyon Fault
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Journal Article
Fault interaction and along-strike variation in throw in the Pajarito fault system, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico Open Access
Journal: Geosphere
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Published: 01 June 2009
Geosphere (2009) 5 (3): 252–269.
... and the Rendija Canyon faults. This paleoseismic event chronology demonstrates that the Pajarito fault often ruptures alone, but sometimes ruptures either with the Rendija Canyon or the Guaje Mountain fault. When this occurs, the resultant seismic moment and therefore the earthquake magnitude are larger than when...
FIGURES
Includes: Supplemental Content
Image
Location of the Pajarito Fault system with respect to the Rio Grande rift i... Open Access
in Evidence for a Single Holocene Paleoseismic Event on the Pajarito Fault, Northern New Mexico
> Environmental & Engineering Geoscience
Published: 17 February 2025
Figure 1. Location of the Pajarito Fault system with respect to the Rio Grande rift in northern New Mexico. Simplified Fault system shown. Modified from Lewis et al. (2009) . Pajarito Fault (PF), Rendija Canyon Fault (RCF), Guaje Mountain Fault (GMF), Sawyer Canyon Fault (SCF), Embudo Fault
Image
Three-dimensional model of the main faults of the Pajarito fault system and... Open Access
in Fault interaction and along-strike variation in throw in the Pajarito fault system, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico
> Geosphere
Published: 01 June 2009
show regional extension direction (from Zoback et al., 1981 ). Small black arrows and thin black lines on fault planes suggest probable slip directions. Blue lines are monoclinal fold axes. Horizontal and vertical scales are the same. MPF—main Pajarito fault; RCF—Rendija Canyon fault; SCF—Sawyer
Image
Diagrammatic two-dimensional cross sections showing along-strike variations... Open Access
in Fault interaction and along-strike variation in throw in the Pajarito fault system, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico
> Geosphere
Published: 01 June 2009
Figure 8. Diagrammatic two-dimensional cross sections showing along-strike variations in range of possible dips for the main Pajarito fault (MPF), Rendija Canyon fault (RCF), Guaje Mountain fault (GMF), and northern Pajarito fault, and their geometric relations in the subsurface. Scale bar
Image
Location map of the central Pajarito Plateau. Yellow shaded area is the Los... Available to Purchase
in Geologic Framework of a Groundwater System on the Margin of a Rift Basin, Pajarito Plateau, North-Central New Mexico
> Vadose Zone Journal
Published: 01 August 2005
1998 are shown as red dots. Older test wells are shown as black dots. Line A–A′ shows location of cross section in Fig. 5 . Main elements of the Pajarito fault zone are shown in blue. PFZ is the main trace of the Pajarito fault zone, RCF is the Rendija Canyon fault, GMF is the Guaje Mountain fault
Image
South-to-north profile of the Pajarito fault system (PFS) showing variation... Open Access
in Fault interaction and along-strike variation in throw in the Pajarito fault system, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico
> Geosphere
Published: 01 June 2009
Alamos Canyon, 145 m between Pajarito Canyon and Cañon de Valle, and 120 m at Water Canyon. Summed throw in this sector includes estimates made by Carter and Gardner (1996) on the Rendija Canyon fault (RCF) and Guaje Mountain fault (GMF) and by Gardner et al. (1999) on the southern tail of the RCF
Journal Article
Evidence for a Single Holocene Paleoseismic Event on the Pajarito Fault, Northern New Mexico Open Access
Published: 17 February 2025
Environmental & Engineering Geoscience (2025) 31 (1): 19–35.
...Figure 1. Location of the Pajarito Fault system with respect to the Rio Grande rift in northern New Mexico. Simplified Fault system shown. Modified from Lewis et al. (2009) . Pajarito Fault (PF), Rendija Canyon Fault (RCF), Guaje Mountain Fault (GMF), Sawyer Canyon Fault (SCF), Embudo Fault...
FIGURES
Includes: Supplemental Content
Journal Article
Geologic Framework of a Groundwater System on the Margin of a Rift Basin, Pajarito Plateau, North-Central New Mexico Available to Purchase
Journal: Vadose Zone Journal
Publisher: Soil Science Society of America
Published: 01 August 2005
Vadose Zone Journal (2005) 4 (3): 522–550.
... 1998 are shown as red dots. Older test wells are shown as black dots. Line A–A′ shows location of cross section in Fig. 5 . Main elements of the Pajarito fault zone are shown in blue. PFZ is the main trace of the Pajarito fault zone, RCF is the Rendija Canyon fault, GMF is the Guaje Mountain fault...
FIGURES
Journal Article
Development of an Infiltration Map for the Los Alamos Area, New Mexico Available to Purchase
Journal: Vadose Zone Journal
Publisher: Soil Science Society of America
Published: 01 August 2005
Vadose Zone Journal (2005) 4 (3): 672–693.
... dacite (Tt1) and Keres Group (Tk); and fault zones such as the Pajarito, Rendija Canyon, and Guaje Mountain fault zones ( Fig. 2 ). Welding in the tuffs, and thus fracturing, tends to increase toward the western margin of the plateau because of increasing thickness of the ash flows near the volcanic...
FIGURES
Journal Article
Spatial and temporal trends in pre-caldera Jemez Mountains volcanic and fault activity Open Access
Journal: Geosphere
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Published: 01 June 2013
Geosphere (2013) 9 (3): 614–646.
... Blanco, Madera Canyon, Pajarito, and Santa Clara ( Fig. 3 ). These structures likely project southward beneath the volcanic field. Some of these faults, including the Coyote, Largo, and Cañones fault systems, were reverse faults or monoclines during Laramide deformation and have been reactivated...
FIGURES
Book Chapter
Chapter 2.3 Fractures in welded tuff Available to Purchase
..., generally running along the northern slopes of canyons where fractures are best exposed. Because these mapped transects cross two major fault zones (Rendija Canyon fault zone and Guaje Mountain fault zone), the investigations revealed the relationship of cooling joint fractures to fractures possibly caused...
Journal Article
A Methodology for Probabilistic Fault Displacement Hazard Analysis (PFDHA) Available to Purchase
Journal: Earthquake Spectra
Publisher: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
Published: 01 February 2003
Earthquake Spectra (2003) 19 (1): 191–219.
... events, lDE . From Equation 10 one can see that the rate of exceedance, nk(d), can Figure 14. Example displacement hazard curves resulting from PFDHA calculations for sites on the Solitario Canyon fault at Yucca Mountain, Nevada and on a possible extension of the Rendija Canyon fault at Los Alamos, New...
Journal Article
Seismicity Monitoring in North‐Central New Mexico by the Los Alamos Seismic Network Available to Purchase
Journal: Seismological Research Letters
Publisher: Seismological Society of America
Published: 09 October 2019
Seismological Research Letters (2020) 91 (2A): 593–600.
..., with the Pajarito fault being the longest (about 50 km long), and the Rendija Canyon fault and the Guaje Mountain fault both being about 10–15 km long. Each has been studied in detail to infer the slip history of the fault system. McCalpin (2005) and Lewis et al. (2009) summarize the evidence for three slip...
FIGURES
Journal Article
Tectonic subsidence, geoid analysis, and the Miocene-Pliocene unconformity in the Rio Grande rift, southwestern United States: Implications for mantle upwelling as a driving force for rift opening Open Access
Journal: Geosphere
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Published: 25 February 2018
Geosphere (2018) 14 (2): 684–709.
... and possibly Holocene displacement along the Rendija Canyon fault, Los Alamos County, New Mexico , in Goff , F. , Kues , B.S. , Rogers , M.A. , McFadden , L.D. , and Gardner , J.N. , eds., The Jemez Mountains Region: New Mexico Geological Society 47th Field Conference Guidebook...
FIGURES
Journal Article
2020 Annual Meeting Available to Purchase
Journal: Seismological Research Letters
Publisher: Seismological Society of America
Published: 01 April 2020
Seismological Research Letters (2020) 91 (2B): 1095–1338.
..., NM and is the largest contributing seismic source to LANL. Thus, understanding its paleoseismic record is key to characterizing seismic hazard at the Lab. The PFS consists of four distinct faults from south to north: Pajarito (PF), Guaje Mountain (GMF), Rendija Canyon (RCF) and Santa Clara Canyon...
