Ground shaking caused by the sudden release of accumulated strain by an abrupt shift of rock along a fracture in the earth or by volcanic or magmatic activity, or other sudden stress changes in the earth.
Evansville, Indiana, is near the Wabash Valley and New Madrid seismic zones and has experienced minor damage from earthquakes in the past 200 years. This fact sheet describes three types of USGS earthquake hazard maps for Evansville and surrounding areas.
National Strong-Motion Program home page with links to program news, recent events, and datasets of digitized accelerograms downloadable as PC (*.zip) and Unix (*.tar.z) files, data processing, stations, research, publications, and personnel.
An organizational unit within USGS that studies earthquakes, landslides, and geomagnetism. Contact information and descriptions of current research projects.
Research and monitoring to provide the Nation with a clear understanding of natural hazards and their potential threats to society, and assists with developing smart, cost-effective strategies for achieving preparedness and resilience.
Describes the role USGS plays in reducing losses from natural disasters, itemizing specific information we develop and maintain to help mitigate or avoid these problems.
News and related information about the importance of seven major types of natural hazards in the United States: earthquakes, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, landslides, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
Shows where current natural hazard events are occurring within the US or worldwide, with information about the geographic extent of the hazard, the US agency engaged to work on it, and how long the hazard is expected be active.
Overview of the Pacific Northwest Urban Corridor Geologic Mapping Program concerned with geology and urban hazards with links to online geologic maps, current research, publications, and contacts.
Overview of volcano hazards in California with links to monitoring data including earthquakes and deformations, long-term outlook, volcano hazards in the area, USGS response plan, image gallery, monitoring and topical studies, publications and references.