Faults and Active Tectonics Evidence of faulting can be seen
throughout the Mojave region. Faults range in scale and
complexity from small, simple offset measurable in inches or
feet to massive thrust faults, normal faults, and strike-slip
faults that have displacements ranging upward to tens of miles
or more. The timing and rate of displacement along faults is
highly variable. Many regional fault show evidence of activity
that extend back into Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Mesozoic time.
Faulting in early to middle Tertiary Period is largely
responsible for the mountainous relief in the Mojave Region,
although faulting activity in the late Tertiary through to the
present is actively influencing landscape development. Some
faults formed in association with volcanic activity. As the
Landers earthquake of 28 June 1992 (magnitude 7.3) demonstrates,
the region is seismically and tectonically active. The epicenter
of the Landers earthquake was about 50 miles east of the Mojave
National Preserve. The earthquake prese