1. Exploring the Basin & Range Province
A College-level Introductory Geology Activity ~
Jennifer Eden, Westminster College, Utah

2. Goals
Use GPS Monuments to quantify the stretching of the Basin and Range Province.
Learn to validate results by evaluating the underlying data including plotting, calculating rate of motion, and adding vectors.
Use data to draw conclusions and come up with theories that are supported by the data.
Use your conclusions to deduce why stretching of crust leads to Basin and Range geography.
Tool - UNAVCO GPS Velocity Viewer

3. Interpret Motion Based on Image

4. Look at Specific Monuments

5. Interpret Motion Based on Processed Data

6. Compile Data from GPS Velocity Viewer

7. Data Validation Based on Raw Data for ELKO Monument
Rate of north-south motion in mm/day
Rate of east-west motion in mm/day

9. Compare to Processed Data
Discussion of assumptions in data analysis and standard deviation.

10. Deductions Based on Data
What do data indicate about plate motion in the Basin & Range?
Stretching about 1.1 mm/yr = 1.1 km/Ma
Comparison with knowledge of how much region has stretched over geologic time
How does crust “stretch” if it is rigid? It breaks… Lead in to normal faulting and exploration of the Wasatch Fault and its earthquake potential.

11. Other Areas to Explore…
Can you use GPS data to assess normal faulting? UNAVCO data weren’t clear on this.
Compare Basin and Range to East Africa Rift Valley using GPS data? This didn’t seem straight forward either. Need to look to other data sources.