Earthquake Science Center
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The Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, California is the largest USGS research center in the West and houses extensive research laboratories, scientific infrastructure, and library facilities.
Our priority is to continue the important work of the Department of the Interior and the USGS, while also maintaining the health and safety of our employees and the community. Based on guidance from the White House, the CDC, and state and local authorities, we are shifting our operations to a virtual mode and have minimal staffing within our offices.
Earthquake Science Center Seminars
Seminars typically take place at 10:30 AM Wednesdays in the Rambo Auditorium (main USGS Conference Room). The USGS Campus is located at 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA.
Browse SeminarsEarthquake Science Center Campus Video
This short, 7-minute video gives an overview of the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, California. It briefly introduces you to the San Francisco Bay Area, shows the campus and facilities, and includes interviews with scientists.
View videoHandbooks to Help You Prepare for an Earthquake
USGS handbooks that describe the threat posed by earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay region and explain how you can prepare for, survive, and recover from these inevitable events.
View HandbooksNews
ShakeOut 2020: Staying Safe When the Ground Starts to Rumble
When the ground shakes, what do you do? ShakeOut 2020: Drop, Cover, and Hold On!
From Volcanoes to Vineyards - New Geologic Map Reveals Portland's Deep History
A new digital geologic map of the greater Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metropolitan area of Oregon and Washington being released today will support emergency response, conservation, agriculture and recreation.
Publications
VS30 and Dominant Site Frequency (fd) as Provisional Station ML Corrections (dML) in California
New seismic stations added to a regional seismic network cannot be used to calculate local magnitude (ML">MLML) until a revised regionwide amplitude decay function is developed. Each station must record a minimum number of local and regional earthquakes that meet specific amplitude requirements prior to recalibration of the amplitude decay...
Yong, Alan; Cochran, Elizabeth S.; Andrews, Jennifer; Hudson, Kenneth; Antony Martin; Yu, Ellen; Herrick, Julie A; Dozal, Jessica Rainfall triggers more deep-seated landslides than Cascadia earthquakes in the Oregon Coast Range, USA
The coastal Pacific Northwest USA hosts thousands of deep-seated landslides. Historic landslides have primarily been triggered by rainfall, but the region is also prone to large earthquakes on the 1100-km-long Cascadia Subduction Zone megathrust. Little is known about the number of landslides triggered by these earthquakes because the last...
LaHusen, Sean R; Duvall, Alison R; Booth, Adam M; Grant, Alex R. R. ; Mishkin, Benjamin A; Montgomery, David R; Struble, William; Roering, Joshua J.; Wartman, Joseph Forecasting for a fractured land: A case study of the communication and use of aftershock forecasts from the Mw 7.8 2016 Kaikōura earthquake in Aotearoa New Zealand
Operational earthquake forecasts (OEFs) are represented as time‐dependent probabilities of future earthquake hazard and risk. These probabilities can be presented in a variety of formats, including tables, maps, and text‐based scenarios. In countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand, the U.S., and Japan, OEFs have been released by scientific...
Becker, Julia S.; Potter, Sally H.; McBride, Sara; Hudson-Doyle, Emma E.; Gerstenberger, Matthew; Christopherson, Anne-Marie