Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey conducts repeated geodimeter surveys of trilateration networks in central California in order to study the processes of slip and strain accumulation along the San Andreas fault. The precision of distance measurement is described by a standard deviation σ = (a2+ b2L2)12 where a = (a2+ b2L2)12 where a = 3mm, b = 2 · 10−7, and L is the line length. Within the...

On the basis of the newest interpretations of all sufficiently long seismic profiles, a contour map of the Mohorovičić discontinuity for the conterminous United States is compiled. Differences from earlier interpretations are discussed.

Seven years of seismic data recorded at the Uinta Basin Observatory were searched for earthquakes originating near an oil field at Rangely, Colorado, located 65 km ESE of the observatory. Changes in the number of earthquakes recorded per year appear to correlate with changes in the quantity of fluid injected per year. Between November 1962 and January 1970, 976 earthquakes were detected...

Convincing evidence that man can trigger earthquakes has been developed since the 1963–1967 report. The fact that man can start earthquakes has increased our understanding of earthquake mechanisms and reinforced our judgment that we are approaching the possibility of earthquake prediction. Traditionally, seismologists have avoided the subject of earthquake prediction because of its...

The Satellite Telemetry Earthquake Monitoring Program was started in FY 1968 to evaluate the applicability of satellite relay telemetry in the collection of seismic data from a large number of dense seismograph clusters laid out along the major fault systems of western North America. Prototype clusters utilizing phone-line telemetry were then being installed by the National Center for...

The Chilean earthquake sequence of May 21–22, 1960, was accompanied by linear zones of tectonic warping, including both uplift and subsidence relative to sea level. The region involved is more than 200 km wide and about 1000 km long, and lies along the continental margin between latitude 37° and 48° S. Significant horizontal strains accompanied the vertical movements in parts of the...

An ultrasonic method for determining velocity has been developed that is independent of phase‐change errors due to reflection of specimen waves from coupling films. The method also eliminates the possibility of error due to conditions of nonhydrostatic stress at a specimen‐transducer or specimen‐delay line interface. Preliminary data are given for Alcoa 2024‐T4 aluminum and are compared...

A network of 64 seismic-refraction profiles recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey in California and Nevada and adjacent areas of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona from 1961 to 1963 was re-interpreted. From record sections compiled for all profiles, a basic travel-time diagram can be derived. In addition to the first arrivals on profiles in the Snake River Plain, the northern Basin and...

One of the greatest earthquakes of all time struck south-central Alaska on March 27, 1964. Strong motion lasted longer than for most recorded earthquakes, and more land surface was dislocated, vertically and horizontally, than by any known previous temblor. Never before were so many effects on earth processes and on the works of man available for study by scientists and engineers over so...

In the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the federally owned Alaska Railroad sustained damage of more than $35 million: 54 percent of the cost for port facilities; 25 percent, roadbed and track; 9 percent, buildings and utilities; 7 percent, bridges and culverts; and 5 percent, landslide removal. Principal causes of damage were: (1) landslides, landslide-generated waves, and seismic sea waves that...

Detailed mineralogical and chemical study of sphalerite-rich lead ores from Flat River, Mo., confirms the presence of anomalous amounts of silver in the sphalerite. Although silver is closely associated with chlorine and no silver sulfide minerals were identified, geochemical considerations indicate the silver may be in the form of discrete submicron-size grains of sulfide rather than...

The 1964 earthquake caused wide-spread damage to inhabited places throughout more than 60,000 square miles of south-central Alaska. This report describes damage to all communities in the area except Anchorage, Whittier, Homer, Valdez, Seward, the communities of the Kodiak group of islands, and communities in the Copper River Basin; these were discussed in previous chapters of the...