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Abstract Brittle deformation in the upper crust is thought to occur primarily via faulting. The fault length‐frequency distribution determines how much deformation is accommodated by numerous small faults versus a few large ones. To evaluate the amount of deformation due to small faults, we analyze the fault length distribution using high‐quality fault maps spanning a wide range of spatial scales from a laboratory sample to an outcrop to a tectonic domain. We find that the cumulative fault length distribution is well approximated by a power law with a negative exponent close to 2. This is in agreement with the earthquake magnitude‐frequency distribution (the Gutenberg‐Richter law with b‐value of 1), at least for faults smaller than the thickness of the seismogenic zone. It follows that faulting is a self‐similar process, and a substantial fraction of tectonic strain can be accommodated by faults that don't cut through the entire seismogenic zone, consistent with inferences of “hidden strain” from natural and laboratory observations. A continued accumulation of tectonic strain may eventually result in a transition from distributed fault networks to localized mature faults.

Abstract The Superstition Hills Fault (SHF) exhibits a rich spectrum of slip modes, including M 6+ earthquakes, afterslip, quasi‐steady creep, and both triggered and spontaneous slow slip events (SSEs). Following 13 years of quiescence, creepmeters recorded 25 mm of slip during 16–19 May 2023. Additional sub‐events brought the total slip to 41 mm. The event nucleated on the northern SHF in early‐May and propagated bi‐laterally at rates on the order of kilometers per day. Surface offsets reveal a bi‐modal slip distribution, with slip on the northern section of the fault being less localized and lower amplitude compared to the southern section. Kinematic slip models confirm systematic variations in the slip distribution along‐strike and with depth and suggest that slip is largely confined to the shallow sedimentary layer. Observations and models of the 2023 SSE bear a strong similarity to previous slip episodes in 1999, 2006, and 2010, suggesting a characteristic behavior.

Abstract Orientations of active antithetic faults can provide useful constraints on in situ strength of the seismogenic crust. We use LINSCAN, a new unsupervised learning algorithm for identifying quasi‐linear clusters of earthquakes, to map small‐scale strike‐slip faults in the Anza‐Borrego shear zone, Southern California. We identify 332 right‐ and left‐lateral faults having lengths between 0.1 and 3 km. The dihedral angles between all possible pairs of conjugate faults are nearly normally distributed around 70°, with a standard deviation of ∼30°. The observed dihedral angles are larger than those expected assuming optimal fault orientations and the coefficient of friction of 0.6–0.8, but similar to the distribution previously reported for the Ridgecrest area in the Eastern California Shear Zone. We show that the observed fault orientations can be explained by fault rotation away from the principal shortening axis due to a cumulated tectonic strain.

We discuss general structural features of the Banning and Mission Creek strands (BF and MCF) of the southern San Andreas fault (SSAF) in the Coachella Valley, based on ambient noise and earthquake wavefields recorded by a seismic array with >300 nodes. Earthquake P arrivals show rapid changes in waveform characteristics over 20–40 m zones that coincide with the surface BF and MCF. These variations indicate that the BF and MCF are high-impedance contrast interfaces—an observation supported by the presence of seismic reflections. Another prominent but more diffuse change in SSAF structure is found ∼1 km northeast of the BF. This feature has average-to-low arrival times (P and S) and ambient noise levels (at 2 times median) are consistently observed southwest of the BF—a combined effect of Coachella Valley sediments and rock damage on that side. Immediately northeast of the MCF, large S minus P delays suggest a broad high VP/VS zone associated with asymmetric rock damage across the SSAF. This general overview shows the BF and MCF as mature but distinctly different fault zones. Future analyses will further clarify these and other SSAF features in greater detail.