Tom Schweich  

Fish Springs Fish Hatchery

Fish Springs

Inyo Mountains from Fish Springs Road	Poverty Hills from north on Fish Springs Road	Field discussion of Big Pine Fault and Poverty Hills	Field Trip Day 1

Two scarps are exposed along the east face of Crater Mountain. Looking to the west, the Owens Valley fault (OVF) scarp is visible as an east-facing scarp. This part of the fault defines a 12 mile long segment of the OVF extending from the northwest side of the Poverty Hills to a termination north of Big Pine and referred to as the Big Pine segment. Almost due west of the stop is a tephra cone that is cut on its west side by the fault. Following with the eye northward from the cone, the scarp is first seen to cut alluvial fan material and then to cut basalt of Crater Mountain. The scarp cuts west of a hill composed of basalt just north of the alluvial fan materials. Another scarp is developed on the east side of the hill. On the north side of the hill, the faults on either side of the hill merge. The portion of the Big Pine fault segment between the Poverty Hills and the point where the two faults merge is referred to as the Fish Springs fault (Reynolds and Jessey, 2009).