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A long-term geothermal observatory across subseafloor gas hydrates, IODP Hole U1364A, Cascadia accretionary prism A long-term geothermal observatory across subseafloor gas hydrates, IODP Hole U1364A, Cascadia accretionary prism

We report 4 years of temperature profiles collected from May 2014 to May 2018 in Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Hole U1364A in the frontal accretionary prism of the Cascadia subduction zone. The temperature data extend to depths of nearly 300 m below seafloor (mbsf), spanning the gas hydrate stability zone at the location and a clear bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) at ∼230 mbsf...
Authors
K. Elizabeth Becker, E. E. Davis, M. Hessemann, J. A. Collins, Jeffrey J. McGuire

The normal faulting 2020 Mw5.8 Lone Pine, Eastern California earthquake sequence The normal faulting 2020 Mw5.8 Lone Pine, Eastern California earthquake sequence

The 2020 Mw 5.8 Lone Pine earthquake, the largest earthquake on the Owens Valley fault zone, eastern California, since the nineteenth century, ruptured an extensional stepover in that fault. Owens Valley separates two normal‐faulting regimes, the western margin of the Great basin and the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada, forming a complex seismotectonic zone, and a possible nascent...
Authors
Egill Hauksson, Brian J. Olsen, Alex R. Grant, Jennifer R Andrews, Angela I. Chung, Susan E. Hough, Hiroo Kanamori, Sara K. McBride, Andrew J. Michael, Morgan T. Page, Zachary E. Ross, Deborah Smith, Sotiris Valkaniotis

Revisiting California’s past great earthquakes and long-term earthquake rate Revisiting California’s past great earthquakes and long-term earthquake rate

In this study, we revisit the three largest historical earthquakes in California—the 1857 Fort Tejon, 1872 Owens Valley, and 1906 San Francisco earthquakes—to review their published moment magnitudes, and compare their estimated shaking distributions with predictions using modern ground‐motion models (GMMs) and ground‐motion intensity conversion equations. Currently accepted moment...
Authors
Susan E. Hough, Morgan T. Page, Leah Salditch, Molly M. Gallahue, Madeleine C. Lucas, James S. Neely, Seth Stein

Site response, basin amplification, and earthquake stress drops in the Portland, Oregon area Site response, basin amplification, and earthquake stress drops in the Portland, Oregon area

Site response, sedimentary basin amplification, and earthquake stress drops for the Portland, Oregon area were determined using accelerometer recordings at 16 sites of 10 local earthquakes with MDMD 2.6–4.0. A nonlinear inversion was applied to calculate site response (0.5–10 Hz), corner frequencies, and seismic moments from the Fourier spectra of the earthquakes. Site amplifications at...
Authors
Arthur D. Frankel, Alex R. Grant

The Alaska convergent margin backstop splay fault zone, a potential large tsunami generator between the frontal prism and continental framework The Alaska convergent margin backstop splay fault zone, a potential large tsunami generator between the frontal prism and continental framework

The giant tsunami that swept the Pacific from Alaska to Antarctica in 1946 was generated along one of three Alaska Trench instrumentally recorded aftershock areas following great and giant earthquakes. Aftershock areas were investigated during the past decade with multibeam bathymetry, ocean bottom seismograph wide‐angle seismic, reprocessed legacy, and new seismic reflection images...
Authors
Roland von Huene, John J. Miller, Anne Krabbenhoeft

Pervasive low-velocity layer atop the 410-km discontinuity beneath the northwest Pacific subduction zone: Implications for rheology and geodynamics Pervasive low-velocity layer atop the 410-km discontinuity beneath the northwest Pacific subduction zone: Implications for rheology and geodynamics

Regional triplication waveforms of five intermediate-depth events are modeled to simultaneously obtain the compressional (P) and shear (SH) wave velocity structure beneath northwestern Pacific subduction zone. Both the P- and SH-wave velocity models for three different sub-regions show a low-velocity layer (LVL) with a thickness of ∼55-80 km lying above the 410-km discontinuity with a...
Authors
Guangjie Han, Juan Li, Guangrui Guo, Walter D. Mooney, Shun-Ichiro Karato, David A. Yuen

Characteristics of frequent dynamic triggering of microearthquakes in Southern California Characteristics of frequent dynamic triggering of microearthquakes in Southern California

Dynamic triggering of earthquakes has been reported at various fault systems. The triggered earthquakes are thought to be caused either directly by dynamic stress changes due to the passing seismic waves, or indirectly by other nonlinear processes that are initiated by the passing waves. Distinguishing these physical mechanisms is difficult because of the general lack of high‐resolution...
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Andrew J. Barbour, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Guoqing Lin

Characterizing strain between rigid crustal blocks in the southern Cascadia forearc: Quaternary faults and folds of the northern Sacramento Valley, California Characterizing strain between rigid crustal blocks in the southern Cascadia forearc: Quaternary faults and folds of the northern Sacramento Valley, California

Topographic profiles across late Quaternary surfaces in the northern Sacramento Valley (California, USA) show offset and progressive folding on series of active east- and northeast—trending faults and folds. Optically stimulated luminescence ages on deposits draping a warped late Pleistocene river terrace yielded differential incision rates along the Sacramento River and indicate...
Authors
Stephen J. Angster, Steven G. Wesnousky, Paula Figueiredo, Lewis A. Owen, Thomas Sawyer

The induced Mw 5.0 March 2020 west Texas seismic sequence The induced Mw 5.0 March 2020 west Texas seismic sequence

On March 26, 2020, a M 5.0 earthquake occurred in the Delaware Basin, Texas, near the border between Reeves and Culberson Counties. This was the third largest earthquake recorded in Texas and the largest earthquake in the Central and Eastern United States since the three M 5.0–5.8 induced events in Oklahoma during 2016. Using multistation waveform template matching, we detect 3,940...
Authors
Robert Skoumal, Joern Kaven, Andrew J. Barbour, Charles Wicks, Michael R. Brudzinski, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Justin Rubinstein

Latency of waveform data delivery from the Southern California Seismic Network during the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence and its effect on ShakeAlert Latency of waveform data delivery from the Southern California Seismic Network during the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence and its effect on ShakeAlert

The occurrence of the 4–6 July 2019 Mw 6.4 and Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence provided the first full‐scale test of the network and telemetry readiness of the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN), to support the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning (EEW) system in California. ShakeAlert is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)‐led collaboration to detect earthquakes and, when...
Authors
Igor Stubailo, Mark Alvarez, Glenn Biasi, Rayomand Bhadha, Egill Hauksson

Ensemble ShakeMaps for magnitude 9 earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone Ensemble ShakeMaps for magnitude 9 earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone

We develop ensemble ShakeMaps for various magnitude 9 (⁠MM 9) earthquakes on the Cascadia megathrust. Ground‐shaking estimates are based on 30 MM 9 Cascadia earthquake scenarios, which were selected using a logic‐tree approach that varied the hypocenter location, down‐dip rupture limit, slip distribution, and location of strong‐motion‐generating subevents. In a previous work, Frankel et...
Authors
Erin A. Wirth, Alex R. Grant, Nasser A. Marafi, Arthur D. Frankel

Generalizing the inversion‐based PSHA source model for an interconnected fault system Generalizing the inversion‐based PSHA source model for an interconnected fault system

This article represents a step toward generalizing and simplifying the procedure for constructing an inversion‐based seismic hazard source model for an interconnected fault system, including the specification of adjustable segmentation constraints. A very simple example is used to maximize understandability and to counter the notion that an inversion approach is only applicable when an...
Authors
Edward H. Field, Kevin R. Milner, Morgan T. Page
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