A new fault lineament in Southern California

ERTS-1 imagery clearly shows a 50-mile wide tectonic zone across Southern California oriented about 15 deg to the structures of the Transverse Ranges or with an azimuth of 70 deg. The zone is delineated on the imagery by terrian alignments and vegetational differences. A previously undisclosed tectonic lineament extends across the Mojave Desert and appears as a line of crustal upwarping. Pressure which would have caused this plus the occurrence of many thrust faults with the 70 deg azimuth indicate this to be a zone of crustal compression. Recent earthquake epicenters appear to be related to this compression zone rather than the traditional fault network of Southern California.