Abstract

The ERTS - 1 mosaic Sheet G (scale 1:1,000,000 imagery from July 23 to October 31, 1972, Band 5) prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture exhibits a pronounced lineament which trends from the Death Valley region N75W to the eastern flank of the Diablo Range near Newman, California - a distance of 250 miles. By contrast, the topographic and structural grain of the Coast Ranges, San Joaquin Valley, and Sierra Nevada trend N40W. On ERTS imagery the lineament is manifested by topographic features in the Panamint-Saline Valley area and is represented by the canyon of the Kings River South Fork in the Sierra Nevada. In the San Joaquin Valley the feature appears as a strip of undeveloped land on strike with the major topographic features which constitute the expression of its southeastern half. The significance of the undeveloped strip of land flanked on either side by intensely developed agricultural tracts in the San Joaquin Valley is uncertain. In the Diablo Range, Sierra Nevada, Panamint-Saline Valley area, and Death Valley region, elements of regional geologic structure appear to parallel the lineament. Local topographic patterns also suggest possible structural associations. The lineament does not appear clearly at all times of the year on ERTS imagery. It is best identified from the mosaic sheet rather than from individual frames of imagery. A model is presented which relates the origin of the lineament to offset Mesozoic subduction zones. In this proposed model, the Kings Canyon Lineament represents a vertical zone of discontinuity in the continental plate associated with the offset limbs of the subducted oceanic plate. The lineament is the surface expression of the vertical zone of discontinuity, a now passive element in the continental crust. It is suggested that plate interactions which produced the lineament have not been operative since Miocene time. Subsequent crustal movements have been affected by the presence of the vertical zone of discontinuity and have brought it into relief as a linear feature.