What is the relationship between faults and earthquakes? What happens to a fault when an earthquake occurs?
Earthquakes occur on faults - strike-slip earthquakes occur on strike-slip faults, normal earthquakes occur on normal faults, and thrust earthquakes occur on thrust or reverse faults. When an earthquake occurs on one of these faults, the rock on one side of the fault slips with respect to the other. The fault surface can be vertical, horizontal, or at some angle to the surface of the earth. The slip direction can also be at any angle.
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Where are the fault lines in the eastern United States (east of the Rocky Mountains)?
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What is a "Quaternary" fault?
Where can I find a fault map of the United States? Is one available in GIS format?
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What is a fault and what are the different types?
UCERF3: A new earthquake forecast for California's complex fault system
With innovations, fresh data, and lessons learned from recent earthquakes, scientists have developed a new earthquake forecast model for California, a region under constant threat from potentially damaging events. The new model, referred to as the third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, or "UCERF" (http://www.WGCEP.org/UCERF3),...
Field, Edward H.
20 cool facts about the New Madrid Seismic Zone-Commemorating the bicentennial of the New Madrid earthquake sequence, December 1811-February 1812 [poster]
This poster summarizes a few of the more significant facts about the series of large earthquakes that struck the New Madrid seismic zone of southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, and adjacent parts of Tennessee and Kentucky from December 1811 to February 1812. Three earthquakes in this sequence had a magnitude (M) of 7.0 or greater. The...
Williams, R.A.; McCallister, N.S.; Dart, R.L.
Where's the San Andreas fault? A guidebook to tracing the fault on public lands in the San Francisco Bay region
Stoffer, Philip W.
Quaternary fault and fold database of the United States
Machette, Michael N.; Haller, Kathleen M.; Dart, R.L.; Rhea, S.B.
This dynamic earth: the story of plate tectonics
In the early 1960s, the emergence of the theory of plate tectonics started a revolution in the earth sciences. Since then, scientists have verified and refined this theory, and now have a much better understanding of how our planet has been shaped by plate-tectonic processes. We now know that, directly or indirectly, plate tectonics...
Kious, W. Jacquelyne; Tilling, Robert I. Young faults
Wallace, R.E.
Prior Great Earthquakes Unveiled at the Western Edge of the 1964 Alaska Rupture
Ever since the great magnitude 9.2 earthquake shook Alaska 50 years ago today, scientists have suspected that the quake's rupture halted at the southwestern tip of Kodiak Island due to a natural barrier.
A Virtual Tour of the Hayward Fault
The U.S. Geological Survey has a new website that offers a virtual tour of the Hayward fault.
Cat Scan'-Like Seismic Study of Earthquake Zone Helps Set Stage for Fault Drilling Project
In a first of its kind study U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Duke University seismologists have used tiny "microearthquakes" along a section of California’s notorious San Andreas Fault to create unique images of the contorted geology scientists will face as they continue drilling deeper into the fault zone to construct a major earthquake "observatory.
Alaska Interior Reveals Scars and Ruptures from 7.9 Denali Fault Quake
Sunday’s magnitude 7.9 earthquake in central Alaska created a scar across the landscape for more than 145 miles, according to surveys conducted the past two days by geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey.
PubTalk 5/2017 — Underwater secrets of the Hayward fault zone
Title: Underwater Secrets of the Hayward Fault Zone: Integrated 3D imaging to understand earthquake hazards
- Underwater imaging provides a unique opportunity to study urban fault hazards.
- How do we link surface structures to depths where earthquakes occur?
- How does "acoustic trenching" help us understand earthquake history?
PubTalk 2/2014 — 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami 50th Anniv.
By George Plafker, USGS Geologist Emeritus
- March 27th, 1964, one of the most violent earthquakes of all time rocked southern Alaska.
- More than 50,000 square miles of the state was tilted to new elevation, and the resulting property damage disrupted the state's economy.
- Within 24 hours, a team of USGS geologists
Exposed faults
Two faults (located on either side of project geologist Chris Fridrich) cutting Pleistocene fluvial gravels on the northern edge of the Poncha mountain block. These and other young faults exposed in area help reveal the latest kinematic (movement) and paleostress histories of the mountain block.
San-Andreas Fault
Aerial photo of the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain. By Ikluft - Own work, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3106006
1964 Alaskan Earthquake Damage
Damage from the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake. Credit: USGS
Interactive Quarternary Fault Database
This database contains information on faults and associated folds in the United States that demonstrate geological evidence of coseismic surface deformation in large earthquakes during the Quaternary (the past 1.6 million years).
Surface Rupture in Northwest Saudi Arabia
Wendy McCausland of the USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program and Hani Zahran of the Saudi Geological Survey view the southern end of the surface fault rupture caused by a M5.4 earthquake in the Saudi Arabian desert on May 19, 2009. The ground displacements in the soft sediments of the foreground are greater than in basement rocks of the background because sediments
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