Structural Controls on the Teton Normal Fault, Teton County, Wyoming

Abstract

The Teton normal fault crops out along the eastern base of the Teton Range and relative motion across this fault has both uplifted the Teton Range and down-dropped Jackson Hole. On surface maps the normal fault appears to lie across older Laramide faults at a high angle, thus suggesting that previous structures had little to do with the position of the normal fault. Therefore, this field study was undertaken to test the following question: have preexisting Laramide or basement structures affected the position and/or geometry of the Teton normal fault? This question becomes important when considering the potential for contemporary earthquakes along the Teton normal fault and understanding the geologic environment of these earthquakes.