Earthquake Science Center
Publications
Electrical properties of carbon dioxide hydrate: Implications for monitoring CO2 in the gas hydrate stability zone
CO2 and CH4 clathrate hydrates are of keen interest for energy and carbon cycle considerations. While both typically form on Earth as cubic structure I (sI), we find that pure CO2 hydrate exhibits over an order of magnitude higher electrical conductivity (σ) than pure CH4 hydrate at geologically relevant temperatures. The...
Stern, Laura A.; Constable, S.; Lu, Ryan; Du Frane, Wyatt L.; Roberts, J. Murray NGA-East Ground-Motion Characterization model part I: Summary of products and model development
In this article, we present an overview of the research project NGA-East, Next Generation Attenuation for Central and Eastern North America (CENA), and summarize the key methodology and products. The project was tasked with developing a new ground motion characterization (GMC) model for CENA. The final NGA-East GMC model includes a set of 17...
Goulet, Christine A.; Bozorgnia, Yousef; Kuehn, Nicolas; Al Atik, Linda; Youngs, Robert; Graves, Robert; Atkinson, Gail M. Coastal Tree-Ring Records for Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Applications in North America
For more than a century, tree-ring research has identified relationships between climatic and ecological conditions and tree growth to describe past environments and constrain future ecosystem vulnerabilities. Tree-ring records are frequently used as environmental proxies that extend knowledge of past climate and ecology on millennial scales. Many...
Tucker, Clay; Pearl, Jessie Kathleen Evaluating spectral ratio methods for characterizing fundamental resonance peaks on flat sediments: An example from the Atlantic Coastal Plain, Eastern United States
Damaging ground motions from the 2011 Mw">Mw 5.8 Virginia earthquake were likely increased due to site amplification from the unconsolidated sediments of the Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP), highlighting the need to understand site response on these widespread strata along the coastal regions of the eastern United States. The horizontal‐...
Schleicher, Lisa Sue; Pratt, Thomas L. Earthquake source mechanisms and stress field variations associated with wastewater-induced seismicity in southern Kansas, USA
The strong increase of seismicity rates in the contiguous USA over the last 10 years is linked to the injection of huge amounts of wastewater from oil and gas production in unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. We calculated 549 moment tensors of induced earthquakes (MW ≤ 4.9) in southern Kansas to study their source mechanisms and...
Amemotou, Amandine; Martinez-Garzon, Patricia; Kwiatek, Grzegorz; Rubinstein, Justin; Bohnhoff, Marco Creep on the Sargent Fault over the past 50 yr from alignment arrays with implications for slip transfer between the Calaveras and San Andreas Faults, California
The 55‐km‐long Sargent fault connects the creeping Calaveras fault with the locked San Andreas fault through the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Gilroy, California. The position of the Sargent fault between these two faults may have implications for slip transfer and strain accumulation between a creeping and locked fault. The detection and...
Mongovin, Daniel; Philibosian, Belle Holocene depositional history inferred from single-grain luminescence ages in southern California, North America
Significant sediment flux and deposition in a sedimentary system are influenced by climate changes, tectonics, lithology, and the sedimentary system's internal dynamics. Identifying the timing of depositional periods from stratigraphic records is a first step to critically evaluate the controls of sediment flux and deposition. Here, we show that...
Saha, Sourav; Moon, Seulgi; Brown, Nathan D.; Rhodes, Edward J.; Scharer, Katherine; McPhillips, Devin; McGill, Sally F.; Castillo, Bryan A.
Streambank erosion and related geomorphic change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
Landscape change in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California, was characterized using data derived from four lidar surveys: one airborne survey in 2006 and three terrestrial surveys in 2016, 2017, and 2018. These surveys were used to generate a better quantitative understanding of changes associated with fluvial processes along the...
DeLong, Stephen B.; Pickering, Alexandra J.; Kuhn, Timothy Teleseismic waves reveal anisotropic poroelastic response of wastewater disposal reservoir
Connecting earthquake nucleation in basement rock to fluid injection in basal, sedimentary reservoirs, depends heavily on choices related to the poroelastic properties of the fluid-rock system, thermo-chemical effects notwithstanding. Direct constraints on these parameters outside of laboratory settings are rare, and it is commonly assumed that...
Barbour, Andrew; Beeler, Nicholas M. A massive rock and ice avalanche caused the 2021 disaster at Chamoli, Indian Himalaya
On 7 Feb 2021, a catastrophic mass flow descended the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga valleys in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, causing widespread devastation and severely damaging two hydropower projects. Over 200 people were killed or are missing. Our analysis of satellite imagery, seismic records, numerical model results, and eyewitness...
Shugar, D. H.; Jacquemart, Mylène; Shean, D.; Bhushan, S.; Upadhyay, K.; Sattar, A.; Schwanghart, W.; McBride, Sara K.; Van Wyk de Vries, M.; Mergili, M.; Emmer, A.; Deschamps-Berger, C.; McDonnell, M.; Bhambri, R.; Allen, S.; Berthier, E.; Carrivick, J.L.; Clague, J.J.; Dokukin, M.; Dunning, S.A.; Frey, Herbert; Gascoin, S.; Haritashya, U. K.; Huggel, C.; Kaab, A.; Kargel, J.S.; Kavanaugh, J.L.; Lacroix, P.; Petley, D. N.; Rupper, S.; Azam, M.F.; Cook, S.J.; Dimri, A.P.; Eriksson, M.; Farinotti, D.; Fiddes, J.; Gnyawali, K.R.; Harrison, S.; Jha, M.K.; Koppes, M.; Kumar, S.; Leiness, S.; Majeed, U.; Mai, S.; Muhuri, A.; Noetzli, J.; Paul, F.; Rashid, I.; Sain, K.; Steiner, J.; Ugalde, F.; Watson, C.S.; Westoby, M.J. NGA-East ground-motion characterization model Part II: Implementation and hazard implications
As a companion article to Goulet et al., we describe implementation of the NGA-East ground motion characterization (GMC) model in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for sites in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS). We present extensions to the EPRI/DOE/NRC seismic source characterization (SSC) model for the CEUS needed for full...
Youngs, Robert; Goulet, Christine A.; Bozorgnia, Yousef; Kuehn, Nicolas; Al Atik, Linda; Graves, Robert; Atkinson, Gail M. Seismic wave propagation and basin amplification in the Wasatch Front, Utah
Ground‐motion analysis of more than 3000 records from 59 earthquakes, including records from the March 2020 Mw">MwMw 5.7 Magna earthquake sequence, was carried out to investigate site response and basin amplification in the Wasatch Front, Utah. We compare ground motions with the Bayless and Abrahamson (2019; hereafter, BA18)...
Moschetti, Morgan P.; Churchwell, David Henry; Thompson, Eric M.; Rekoske, John; Wolin, Emily; Boyd, Oliver S.