Mule team at Broadwell Mesa

USGS researchers meet up with a mule pack train in the northern Bristol Mountains near Broadwell Mesa, which is in the Kelso Dunes Wilderness Area. The mules are dropping off water, gear, and supplies for four USGS geologic mappers, who will conduct 10 days worth of surficial and bedrock geologic mapping along the Broadwell Mesa Fault. The Broadwell Mesa Fault is part of the Eastern California Shear Zone, a group of seismically active faults that accommodates between 20 and 25% of the relative slip between the Pacific and North American plates. In addition to providing data for interpreting fault slip rates and histories, our surficial geologic mapping is used by land and resource managers to aid decisions about water and ecosystems management across the Mojave Desert.