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Putting down roots in earthquake country: Your handbook for earthquakes in the Central United States Putting down roots in earthquake country: Your handbook for earthquakes in the Central United States

This handbook provides information to residents of the Central United States about the threat of earthquakes in that area, particularly along the New Madrid seismic zone, and explains how to prepare for, survive, and recover from such events. It explains the need for concern about earthquakes for those residents and describes what one can expect during and after an earthquake. Much is...
Authors
Richard Contributors: Dart, Jill McCarthy, Natasha McCallister, Robert A. Williams

Overview of the ARkStorm scenario Overview of the ARkStorm scenario

The U.S. Geological Survey, Multi Hazards Demonstration Project (MHDP) uses hazards science to improve resiliency of communities to natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, landslides, floods and coastal erosion. The project engages emergency planners, businesses, universities, government agencies, and others in preparing for major natural disasters. The project also...
Authors
Keith Porter, Anne Wein, Charles N. Alpers, Allan Baez, Patrick L. Barnard, James Carter, Alessandra Corsi, James Costner, Dale Cox, Tapash Das, Mike Dettinger, James Done, Charles Eadie, Marcia Eymann, Justin Ferris, Prasad Gunturi, Mimi Hughes, Robert Jarrett, Laurie Johnson, Hanh Dam Le-Griffin, David Mitchell, Suzette Morman, Paul Neiman, Anna Olsen, Suzanne Perry, Geoffrey Plumlee, Martin Ralph, David Reynolds, Adam Rose, Kathleen Schaefer, Julie Serakos, William Siembieda, Jonathan D. Stock, David Strong, Ian Sue Wing, Alex Tang, Pete Thomas, Ken Topping, Chris Wills, Lucile Jones

Electrical properties of methane hydrate + sediment mixtures Electrical properties of methane hydrate + sediment mixtures

As part of our DOE-funded proposal to characterize gas hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico using marine electromagnetic methods, a collaboration between SIO, LLNL, and USGS with the goal of measuring the electrical properties of lab-created methane (CH4) hydrate and sediment mixtures was formed. We examined samples with known characteristics to better relate electrical properties measured in...
Authors
Wyatt L. Du Frane, Laura A. Stern, Karen A. Weitemeyer, Steven Constable, Jeffery J. Roberts

Deep rock damage in the San Andreas Fault revealed by P- and S-type fault-zone-guided waves Deep rock damage in the San Andreas Fault revealed by P- and S-type fault-zone-guided waves

Damage to fault-zone rocks during fault slip results in the formation of a channel of low seismic-wave velocities. Within such channels guided seismic waves, denoted by Fg, can propagate. Here we show with core samples, well logs and Fg-waves that such a channel is crossed by the SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth) borehole at a depth of 2.7 km near Parkfield, California, USA...
Authors
William L. Ellsworth, Peter E. Malin

A methodology for post-mainshock probabilistic assessment of building collapse risk A methodology for post-mainshock probabilistic assessment of building collapse risk

This paper presents a methodology for post-earthquake probabilistic risk (of damage) assessment that we propose in order to develop a computational tool for automatic or semi-automatic assessment. The methodology utilizes the same so-called risk integral which can be used for pre-earthquake probabilistic assessment. The risk integral couples (i) ground motion hazard information for the...
Authors
N. Luco, M.C. Gerstenberger, S.R. Uma, H. Ryu, A.B. Liel, M. Raghunandan

Scientific drilling into the San Andreas Fault Zone - an overview of SAFOD's first five years Scientific drilling into the San Andreas Fault Zone - an overview of SAFOD's first five years

The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) was drilled to study the physical and chemical processes controlling faulting and earthquake generation along an active, plate-bounding fault at depth. SAFOD is located near Parkfield, California and penetrates a section of the fault that is moving due to a combination of repeating microearthquakes and fault creep. Geophysical logs...
Authors
Mark Zoback, Stephen Hickman, William Ellsworth

Ground motion attenuation during M 7.1 Darfield and M 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquakes and performance of global predictive models Ground motion attenuation during M 7.1 Darfield and M 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquakes and performance of global predictive models

The M 7.1 Darfield earthquake occurred 40 km west of Christchurch (New Zealand) on 4 September 2010. Six months after, the city was struck again with an M 6.2 event on 22 February local time (21 February UTC). These events resulted in significant damage to infrastructure in the city and its suburbs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of global predictive models...
Authors
Margaret Segou, Erol Kalkan

Seismic and geodetic signatures of fault slip at the Slumgullion Landslide Natural Laboratory Seismic and geodetic signatures of fault slip at the Slumgullion Landslide Natural Laboratory

We tested the hypothesis that the Slumgullion landslide is a useful natural laboratory for observing fault slip, specifically that slip along its basal surface and side-bounding strike-slip faults occurs with comparable richness of aseismic and seismic modes as along crustal- and plate-scale boundaries. Our study provides new constraints on models governing landslide motion. We monitored...
Authors
J. Gomberg, W. Schulz, P. Bodin, J. Kean

Observations of changes in waveform character induced by the 1999 Mw7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake Observations of changes in waveform character induced by the 1999 Mw7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake

We observe changes in the waveforms of repeating earthquakes in eastern Taiwan following the 1999 Mw7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake, while their recurrence intervals appear to be unaffected. There is a clear reduction in waveform similarity and velocity changes indicated by delayed phases at the time of the Chi-Chi event. These changes are limited to stations in and paths that cross the 70 × 100...
Authors
K.H. Chen, T. Furumura, J. Rubinstein, R.-J. Rau

Developing empirical collapse fragility functions for global building types Developing empirical collapse fragility functions for global building types

Building collapse is the dominant cause of casualties during earthquakes. In order to better predict human fatalities, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) program requires collapse fragility functions for global building types. The collapse fragility is expressed as the probability of collapse at discrete levels of the input hazard...
Authors
K. Jaiswal, D. Wald, D. D’Ayala

8 March 2010 Elazığ-Kovancilar (Turkey) Earthquake: observations on ground motions and building damage 8 March 2010 Elazığ-Kovancilar (Turkey) Earthquake: observations on ground motions and building damage

An earthquake of MW = 6.1 occurred in the Elazığ region of eastern Turkey on 8 March 2010 at 02:32:34 UTC. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the epicenter of the earthquake as 38.873°N-39.981°E with a focal depth of 12 km. Forty-two people lost their lives and 137 were injured during the event. The earthquake was reported to be on the left-lateral strike-slip east...
Authors
Sinan Akkar, A. Aldemir, A. Askan, S. Bakir, E. Canbay, I.O. Demirel, M.A. Erberik, Z. Gulerce, Polat Gulkan, Erol Kalkan, S. Prakash, M.A. Sandikkaya, V. Sevilgen, B. Ugurhan, E. Yenier
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