Publications

The Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake of August 24, 2014, produced complex and extensive surface faulting and other ground deformation features. Following the event, geologists made more than 1,200 field observations at locations where tectonic faulting and ground failure produced visible deformation that fractured and disturbed the ground surface. At a few locations, large-scale, detailed...

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technology aims to engineer a productive geothermal reservoir in regions of hot, but low permeability, rocks. In any EGS operation, the rock mass requires stimulation by high pressure injection of fluids, which has the potential to induce seismicity. To address the seismic hazard specifically, a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) is often...

Summary In June, 2017, we acquired seismic data along five linear profiles at three British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro, a Canadian provincial Crown Corporation) dam sites (John Hart, Ladore, and Strathcona Dams) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We also attempted to acquire linear seismic profiles at two additional BC Hydro dam sites (Ruskin Dam and Stave...

The earthquake activity in Oklahoma and Kansas that began in 2008 reflects the most widespread instance of induced seismicity observed to date. We develop a reservoir model to calculate the hydrologic conditions associated with the activity of 902 saltwater disposal wells injecting into the Arbuckle aquifer. Estimates of basement fault stressing conditions inform a rate‐and‐state...

The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) began with the Darfield earthquake on 4 September 2010. Continual large and small aftershocks since that time have meant communities have cycled through repeated periods of impact, response and recovery. Scientific communication about aftershocks during such a prolonged sequence has faced distinct challenges. We conducted research to better...

Reverse time migration is often used to interpret acoustic or three‐component seismic recordings by creating an image of subsurface seismic reflectors. Here I describe elastic reverse time migration imaging functions that are cast as waveform misfit sensitivity kernels of contrasts in material parameters across hypothetical seismic discontinuities, that is, specular reflectors. The...

We explore how accurate earthquake early warning (EEW) can be, given our limited ability to forecast expected shaking even if the earthquake source is known. Because of the strong variability of ground motion metrics, such as peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV), we find that correct alerts (i.e., alerts that accurately predict the observed ground motion above a

Estimates of background noise of Global Positioning System‐derived time series of positions for 740 sites in the western United States are examined. These data consist of daily epochs of three components of displacements that are at least 9.75 years long within the interval between 2000 and 2018. We find that these time series have significant temporal correlations that could be...

The potential for a major earthquake in the Shumagin seismic gap, and the tsunami it could generate, was reported in 1971. However, while potentially tsunamigenic splay faults in the adjacent Unimak and Semidi earthquake segments are known, such features along the Shumagin segment were undocumented until recently. To investigate margin structure and search for splay faults, we...

Hydraulic fracturing has been inferred to trigger the majority of injection‐induced seismicity in the Zhaotong and Changning shale gas field, Sichuan basin of China, in contrast to the Midwestern United States, where massive wastewater disposal has been the dominant triggering mechanism. More than 15,000 earthquakes, with magnitudes ranging up to Mw 4.7, were recorded by a temporary...

Introduction Dos Palmas Preserve is a Colorado Desert oasis and wetland in Riverside County, California, located near the base of the Orocopia Mountains and northeast of the Salton Sea. The original source of water for the oasis was artesian springs that developed at the base of the Orocopia Mountains, but more abundant water supplies were later provided to Dos Palmas Preserve when the...

Earthquakes in unusual locations have become an important topic of discussion in both North America and Europe, owing to the concern that industrial activity could cause damaging earthquakes. It has long been understood that earthquakes can be induced by impoundment of reservoirs, surface and underground mining, withdrawal of fluids and gas from the subsurface, and injection of fluids...