Publications
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2022 Crustal Deformation Modeling Workshop Report
The 2022 Crustal Deformation Modeling Workshop was held June 20–24 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. The workshop included two days of tutorials on the use of the open-source software PyLith for crustal deformation modeling followed by three days of science talks and discussions. The workshop focused on three primary themes: (1) Earthquake cycle modeling; (2) Inversions for faul
Authors
Brad T. Aagaard, Sylvain Barbot, Brittany Erickson, Matthew Knepley, Mark Simons, Charles Williams
Improving the Development Pipelines for USGS Earthquake Hazards Program Real-Time and Scenario Products
The real-time and scenario products of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program, such as the ComCat catalog, Did You Feel It?, ShakeMap, ShakeCast, and PAGER, are highly visible and used by a wide variety of stakeholders. We propose two significant enhancements to the development pipelines for the Earthquake Hazards Program real-time and scenario products that have far-reaching
Authors
Brad T. Aagaard, David J. Wald, Eric M. Thompson, Mike Hearne, Lisa Sue Schleicher
Improved resolution across the Global Seismographic Network: A new era in low-frequency seismology
The Global Seismographic Network (GSN)—a global network of ≈150 very broadband stations—is used by researchers to study the free oscillations of the Earth (≈0.3–10 mHz) following large earthquakes. Normal‐mode observations can provide information about the radial density and anisotropic velocity structure of the Earth (including near the core–mantle boundary), but only when signal‐to‐noise ratios
Authors
Adam T. Ringler, Robert E. Anthony, P. Thompson Davis, Carl Ebeling, K. Hafner, R. Mellors, S. Schneider, David C. Wilson
A geomorphic-process-based cellular automata model of colluvial wedge morphology and stratigraphy
The development of colluvial wedges at the base of fault scarps following normal-faulting earthquakes serves as a sedimentary record of paleoearthquakes and is thus crucial in assessing seismic hazard. Although there is a large body of observations of colluvial wedge development, connecting this knowledge to the physics of sediment transport can open new frontiers in our understanding. To explore
Authors
Harrison J. Gray, Christopher DuRoss, Sylvia Nicovich, Ryan D. Gold
Updates to and applications of the USGS National Crustal Model for seismic hazard studies
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Crustal Model (NCM) is being developed to assist in the modeling of seismic hazards across the conterminous United States. The NCM is composed of a grid of geophysical profiles, extending from the Earth’s surface into the upper mantle. It is constructed from a 3D geologic framework and geophysical rules defined by: (1) a petrologic and mineral physics dat
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd
Synthesizing ground magnetic disturbance using dipole-aligned loop elementary currents and Biot-Savart relationship
This report presents a method for constructing a simplified numerical description of the electric current distributions in the ionosphere and gap region based on dipole-aligned loop elementary currents (DALECs). A theoretical basis for DALECs is presented, along with a prototypical algorithm for constructing an elementary numerical DALEC. The algorithm is verified and validated by combining DALECs
Authors
E. Joshua Rigler, Michael Wiltberger
Submarine landslide susceptibility mapping in recently deglaciated terrain, Glacier Bay, Alaska
Submarine mass wasting events have damaged underwater structures and propagated waves that have inundated towns and affected human populations in nearby coastal areas. Susceptibility to submarine landslides can be pronounced in degrading cryospheric environments, where existing glaciers can provide high volumes of sediment, while cycles of glaciation and ice-loss can damage and destabilize slopes.
Authors
Nikita N. Avdievitch, Jeffrey A. Coe
Characteristics and sources of intense geoelectric fields in the United States: Comparative analysis of multiple geomagnetic storms
Intense geoelectric fields during geomagnetic storms drive geomagnetically induced currents in power grids and other infrastructure, yet there are limited direct measurements of these storm-time geoelectric fields. Moreover, most previous studies examining storm-time geoelectric fields focused on single events or small geographic regions, making it difficult to determine the typical source(s) of i
Authors
Xueling Shi, Michael D Hartinger, Joseph B. H. Baker, Benjamin Scott Murphy, Paul A. Bedrosian, Anna Kelbert, Erin (Josh) Rigler
Shallow faulting and folding in the epicentral area of the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake
The moment magnitude (Mw�w) ∼7 earthquake that struck Charleston, South Carolina, on 31 August 1886 is the largest historical earthquake in the United States east of the Appalachian Mountains. The fault(s) that ruptured during this earthquake has never been conclusively identified, and conflicting fault models have been proposed. Here we interpret reprocessed seismic reflection profiles, reproce
Authors
Thomas L. Pratt, Anjana K. Shah, R.C Counts, J. Wright Horton,, M.C. Chapman
Partitioning ground motion uncertainty when conditioned on station data
Rapid estimation of earthquake ground shaking and proper accounting of associated uncertainties in such estimates when conditioned on strong‐motion station data or macroseismic intensity observations are crucial for downstream applications such as ground failure and loss estimation. The U.S. Geological Survey ShakeMap system is called upon to fulfill this objective in light of increased near‐real‐
Authors
Davis T. Engler, Charles Worden, Eric M. Thompson, Kishor Jaiswal
How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)?
We excavated trenches at two paleoseismic sites bounding a trans-basin bedrock ridge (the Willow Creek Hills) along the northern Lost River fault zone to explore the uniqueness of the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake compared to its prehistoric predecessors. At the Sheep Creek site on the southernmost Warm Springs section, two earthquakes occurred at 9.8−14.0 ka (95% confidence) and 6.5−7.1 ka; e
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Richard W. Briggs, Ryan D. Gold, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Austin John Elliott, Jaime Delano, Ivan Medina-Cascales, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon A. Mahan, Sylvia Nicovich, Zachery Lifton, Emily J. Kleber, Greg N. McDonald, Adam Hiscock, Mike Bunds, Nadine G. Reitman
Ground failure triggered by the 7 January 2020 M6.4 Puerto Rico earthquake
The 7 January 2020 M 6.4 Puerto Rico earthquake, the mainshock of an extended earthquake sequence, triggered significant ground failure. In this study, we detail the ground failure that occurred based largely on a postearthquake field reconnaissance campaign that we conducted. We documented more than 300 landslides, mainly rock falls that were concentrated in areas where peak ground acceleration (
Authors
Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Desireé Bayouth García, Edwin Irizarry Brugman, K. Stephen Hughes, Robert G. Schmitt