Quaternary fault mapping within the eastern Centennial Tectonic Belt from high-resolution topography

This data release presents mapping of late Quaternary fault scarps within the eastern Centennial Tectonic Belt, along the northwestern margin of the Yellowstone seismic parabola. Using 1-m light detection and ranging (lidar) data, we mapped nine faults: the Madison, Centennial, Lima Reservoir, Red Rock, unnamed faults in Hebgen Lake basin (now referred to as the “West Yellowstone basin” faults after Witkind, 1964), Hebgen, Red Canyon, Post-Lava Creek faults in NW Yellowstone National Park (abbreviated to “Post-Lava Creek faults”), and East Gallatin-Reese Creek fault system, totaling >500 km of new fault trace mapping. This mapping reveals long and geometrically complex fault systems, including a distributed, high-angle (~75°–80°) intersection zone between the traces of the Madison and Centennial faults. The Red Canyon and Hebgen faults were previously mapped by Johnson and others (2018). Note that the Madison fault mapping includes the Wolf Creek graben on the western part of the basin. This feature is noted as a parenthetical in the Fault [name] field: Madison (Wolf Creek graben). Scarps of the Post-Lava Creek faults form a broad, unorganized zone between the West Yellowstone Basin and the Yellowstone Plateau. Besides sparse historical rupture of a portion of these faults documented by Witkind (1964), the ages of these scarps are unknown. The East Gallatin-Reese Creek fault system defines the very eastern margin of our mapping area and is an incomplete representation of that structure.
References:
Johnson, K. L., Nissen, E., and Lajoie, L., 2018, Surface rupture morphology and vertical slip distribution of the 1959 Mw 7.2 Hebgen Lake (Montana) earthquake from airborne lidar topography: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, v. 123, no. 9, p. 8229–8248, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017jb015039.

Witkind, I. J., 1964, The Hebgen Lake, Montana, earthquake of August 17, 1959: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 435, 242 p., 5 plates, https://doi.org/10.3133/pp435.