Diffuse Tectonic Deformation in the Drum Mountains Fault Zone, Utah, USA: Testing the Utility of Legacy Aerial Photograph-Derived Topography

The Basin and Range province in the western United States hosts numerous low-slip-rate normal faults with diffuse subtle surface expressions. Legacy aerial photographs, widely available across region, can be used to generate high-resolution digital elevation models of these previously uncharacterized fault systems. Here, we test limits utility photograph-derived products on Drum Mountains zone—a virtually unstudied enigmatic system eastern central Utah. We evaluate a new 2-m model produced from photographs against other remotely sensed field survey data assess various factors that contribute noise, artifacts, distortions. Despite some challenges, captures complex array cross-cutting scarps well. demonstrate zone has variable net east- or west-down sense displacement c. 8-km-wide antithetic synthetic traces. Optically stimulated luminescence ages scarp profiles are constrain extension rates two transects reveal average 0.1–0.4 mm yr ?1 over last 35 ka. These both faster than estimated most could an order magnitude higher if steep at sole into detachment depth. Several have been proposed for local regional faulting depth, but our show offsets, rates, geometries generated by reactivation pre-existing, structurally between This study highlights how legacy aerial-photograph-derived products, lieu topographic datasets, active faults, especially remote regions where deformation would otherwise remain undetected.