Size distribution and spatial arrangement of normal faults in A-Bomb Canyon, Buckskin Mountains, Western Arizona

The spatial arrangement of structural features, such as faults, can be randomly located, clustered together, or anti-clustered in space. The objective of this project is to understand the spatial arrangement of normal faults in A-Bomb Canyon, in the Buckskin Mountains of Arizona, as a function of fault offset, herein defined as displacement. The normalized correlation count (NCC) methodology is used in this study to quantify the spatial arrangement of faults. In the process of studying the arrangement of faults at A-Bomb Canyon, the displacement distribution, coefficient of variation as well as the NCC are examined to understand whether the faults cluster or are randomly spaced and if clustered, whether clusters show fractal scaling. Data analysis uses a traditional approach of size distribution analysis along with the correlation count technique. Results show that the frequency distribution of fault displacements follows a power law that spans ~four orders of magnitude. Faults with displacement thresholds of less than 1 meter display plateau patterns in NCC, indicate clustering at varying spacing, but clustering is not self-organized. Normal faults with > 1 meter displacement reflects faults with a dominant spacing of approximately twenty meters.