Publications
Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
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Estimating earthquake magnitudes from reported intensities in the central and eastern United States Estimating earthquake magnitudes from reported intensities in the central and eastern United States
A new macroseismic intensity prediction equation is derived for the central and eastern United States and is used to estimate the magnitudes of the 1811–1812 New Madrid, Missouri, and 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquakes. This work improves upon previous derivations of intensity prediction equations by including additional intensity data, correcting magnitudes in the intensity...
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd, Chris H. Cramer
Drift issues of tall buildings during the March 11, 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake, Japan - Implications Drift issues of tall buildings during the March 11, 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake, Japan - Implications
One of the most significant effects of the M9.0 Tohoku, Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011 is the now well-known long duration (>10 minutes) shaking of buildings in Japan – particularly those in Tokyo (~350-375 km from the epicenter) and in places as far as Osaka (~770 km from the epicenter). Although none collapsed, the strong shaking caused many tall buildings not to be functional for...
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi, Izuru Okawa
Comparison of NGA-West2 directivity models Comparison of NGA-West2 directivity models
Five directivity models have been developed based on data from the NGA-West2 database and based on numerical simulations of large strike-slip and reverse-slip earthquakes. All models avoid the use of normalized rupture dimension, enabling them to scale up to the largest earthquakes in a physically reasonable way. Four of the five models are explicitly “narrow-band” (in which the effect...
Authors
Paul A. Spudich, Badie Rowshandel, Shrey Shahi, Jack W. Baker, Brian S-J Chiou
Adding fling effects to processed ground‐motion time histories Adding fling effects to processed ground‐motion time histories
Fling is the engineering term for the effects of the permanent tectonic offset, caused by a rupturing fault in the recorded ground motions near the fault. It is expressed by a one‐sided pulse in ground velocity and a nonzero final displacement at the end of shaking. Standard processing of earthquake time histories removes some of the fling effects that may be required for engineering...
Authors
Ronnie Kamai, Norman A. Abrahamson, Robert Graves
NGA-West2 Research Project NGA-West2 Research Project
The NGA-West2 project is a large multidisciplinary, multi-year research program on the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) models for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions. The research project has been coordinated by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), with extensive technical interactions among many individuals and organizations. NGA-West2...
Authors
Yousef Bozorgnia, Norman A. Abrahamson, Linda Al Atik, Timothy D. Ancheta, Gail M. Atkinson, Jack W. Baker, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, David M. Boore, Kenneth W. Campbell, Brian S.J. Chiou, Robert B. Darragh, Steve Day, Jennifer Donahue, Robert W. Graves, Nick Gregor, Thomas C. Hanks, I. M. Idriss, Ronnie Kamai, Tadahiro Kishida, Albert Kottke, Stephen A. Mahin, Sanaz Rezaeian, Badie Rowshandel, Emel Seyhan, Shrey Shahi, Tom Shantz, Walter Silva, Paul A. Spudich, Jonathan P. Stewart, Jennie Watson-Lamprey, Kathryn Wooddell, Robert Youngs
Imaging P and S attenuation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, northern California Imaging P and S attenuation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, northern California
We obtain 3-D Qp and Qs models for the Delta region of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, a large fluvial-agricultural portion of the Great Valley located between the Sierra Nevada batholith and the San Francisco Bay - Coast Ranges region of active faulting. Path attenuation t* values have been obtained for P and S data from 124 distributed earthquakes, with a longer variable window...
Authors
Donna Eberhart-Phillips, Clifford Thurber, Jon Peter B. Fletcher
Geologic logs of geotechnical cores from the subsurface Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California Geologic logs of geotechnical cores from the subsurface Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California
This report presents and summarizes descriptive geologic logs of geotechnical cores collected from 2009–12 in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, California, by the California Department of Water Resources. Graphic logs are presented for 1,785.7 ft of retained cores from 56 borehole sites throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Most core sections are from a depth of ~100–200 feet...
Authors
Katherine L. Maier, Daniel J. Ponti, John C. Tinsley, Emma Gatti, Mark Pagenkopp
Documentation for the 2014 update of the United States national seismic hazard maps Documentation for the 2014 update of the United States national seismic hazard maps
The national seismic hazard maps for the conterminous United States have been updated to account for new methods, models, and data that have been obtained since the 2008 maps were released (Petersen and others, 2008). The input models are improved from those implemented in 2008 by using new ground motion models that have incorporated about twice as many earthquake strong ground shaking...
Authors
Mark D. Petersen, Morgan P. Moschetti, Peter M. Powers, Charles S. Mueller, Kathleen M. Haller, Arthur D. Frankel, Yuehua Zeng, Sanaz Rezaeian, Stephen C. Harmsen, Oliver S. Boyd, Edward H. Field, Rui Chen, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Nico Luco, Russell L. Wheeler, Robert A. Williams, Anna H. Olsen
High-frequency imaging of elastic contrast and contact area with implications for naturally observed changes in fault properties High-frequency imaging of elastic contrast and contact area with implications for naturally observed changes in fault properties
During localized slip of a laboratory fault we simultaneously measure the contact area and the dynamic fault normal elastic stiffness. One objective is to determine conditions where stiffness may be used to infer changes in area of contact during sliding on nontransparent fault surfaces. Slip speeds between 0.01 and 10 µm/s and normal stresses between 1 and 2.5 MPa were imposed during...
Authors
Kohei Nagata, Brian D. Kilgore, Nicholas M. Beeler, Masao Nakatani
Effects of 2010 Hurricane Earl amidst geologic evidence for greater overwash at Anegada, British Virgin Islands Effects of 2010 Hurricane Earl amidst geologic evidence for greater overwash at Anegada, British Virgin Islands
A post-hurricane survey of a Caribbean island affords comparisons with geologic evidence for greater overwash at the same place. This comparison, though of limited application to other places, helps calibrate coastal geology for assessment of earthquake and tsunami potential along the Antilles Subduction Zone. The surveyed island, Anegada, is 120 km south of the Puerto Rico Trench and is...
Authors
Brian F. Atwater, Zamara Fuentes, Robert B. Halley, Uri S. ten Brink, Martitia P. Tuttle
Paleoearthquakes at Frazier Mountain, California delimit extent and frequency of past San Andreas Fault ruptures along 1857 trace Paleoearthquakes at Frazier Mountain, California delimit extent and frequency of past San Andreas Fault ruptures along 1857 trace
Large earthquakes are infrequent along a single fault, and therefore historic, well-characterized earthquakes exert a strong influence on fault behavior models. This is true of the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake (estimated M7.7–7.9) on the southern San Andreas Fault (SSAF), but an outstanding question is whether the 330 km long rupture was typical. New paleoseismic data for six to seven...
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Ray Weldon, Ashley Streig, Thomas Fumal
Five centuries of tsunamis and land-level changes in the overlapping rupture area of the 1960 and 2010 Chilean earthquakes Five centuries of tsunamis and land-level changes in the overlapping rupture area of the 1960 and 2010 Chilean earthquakes
A combination of geological and historical records from south-central Chile provides a means to address general questions about the stability of megathrust rupture patches and the range of variation expected among earthquakes and tsunamis along a particular stretch of a subduction zone. The Tirúa River estuary (38.3°S) records four large tsunamis and coseismic land-level changes over the...
Authors
Lisa L. Ely, Marco Cisternas, Robert L. Wesson, Tina Dura