THE NATURE OF THE LANDERS-MOJAVE EARTHQUAKE LINE

The Landers, California, earthquake of 28 June 1992 (magnitude = 7.3) is the latest of six significant earthquakes in the past 60 years whos e epicenters and slip directions define a 100-kilometer alignment runn ing approximately N15-degrees-W across the central Mojave region. This pattern may indicate a geologically young throughgoing fault that rep laces numerous older strike-slip faults by obliquely cutting across th em. These older faults, and perhaps also the bend in the San Andreas f ault, may be losing their ability to accommodate upper crustal deforma tion because they have become unfavorably oriented with respect to the regional stress field.