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Collapse risk of buildings in the Pacific Northwest region due to subduction earthquakes Collapse risk of buildings in the Pacific Northwest region due to subduction earthquakes

Subduction earthquakes similar to the 2011 Japan and 2010 Chile events will occur in the future in the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest. In this paper, nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out on 24 buildings designed according to outdated and modern building codes for the cities of Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The results indicate that the median...
Authors
Meera Raghunandan, Abbie B. Liel, Nico Luco

Kelp, cobbles, and currents: Biologic reduction of coarse grain entrainment stress Kelp, cobbles, and currents: Biologic reduction of coarse grain entrainment stress

Models quantifying the onset of sediment motion do not typically account for the effect of biotic processes because they are difficult to isolate and quantify in relation to physical processes. Here we investigate an example of the interaction of kelp (Order Laminariales) and coarse sediment transport in the coastal zone, where it is possible to directly quantify and test its effect...
Authors
Claire C Masteller, Noah J Finnegan, Jonathan A. Warrick, Ian M. Miller

Double point source W-phase inversion: Real-time implementation and automated model selection Double point source W-phase inversion: Real-time implementation and automated model selection

Rapid and accurate characterization of an earthquake source is an extremely important and ever evolving field of research. Within this field, source inversion of the W-phase has recently been shown to be an effective technique, which can be efficiently implemented in real-time. An extension to the W-phase source inversion is presented in which two point sources are derived to better...
Authors
Jennifer Nealy, Gavin P. Hayes

Artificial seismic acceleration Artificial seismic acceleration

In their 2013 paper, Bouchon, Durand, Marsan, Karabulut, 3 and Schmittbuhl (BDMKS) claim to see significant accelerating seismicity before M 6.5 interplate mainshocks, but not before intraplate mainshocks, reflecting a preparatory process before large events. We concur with the finding of BDMKS that their interplate dataset has significantly more fore- shocks than their intraplate...
Authors
Karen R. Felzer, Morgan T. Page, Andrew J. Michael

Paleoseismic evidence for late Holocene tectonic deformation along the Saddle mountain fault zone, Southeastern Olympic Peninsula, Washington Paleoseismic evidence for late Holocene tectonic deformation along the Saddle mountain fault zone, Southeastern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Trench and wetland coring studies show that northeast‐striking strands of the Saddle Mountain fault zone ruptured the ground about 1000 years ago, generating prominent scarps. Three conspicuous subparallel fault scarps can be traced for 15 km on Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) imagery, traversing the foothills of the southeast Olympic Mountains: the Saddle Mountain east fault, the...
Authors
Elizabeth Barnett, Brian L. Sherrod, Jonathan F. Hughes, Harvey M. Kelsey, Jessica L. Czajkowski, Timothy J. Walsh, Trevor A. Contreras, Elizabeth R. Schermer, Robert J. Carson

Time-varying interseismic strain rates and similar seismic ruptures on the Nias-Simeulue patch of the Sunda megathrust Time-varying interseismic strain rates and similar seismic ruptures on the Nias-Simeulue patch of the Sunda megathrust

Fossil coral microatolls from fringing reefs above the great (MW 8.6) megathrust rupture of 2005 record uplift during the historically reported great earthquake of 1861. Such evidence spans nearly the entire 400-km strike length of the 2005 rupture, which was previously shown to be bounded by two persistent barriers to seismic rupture. Moreover, at sites where we have constrained the...
Authors
Aron J. Meltzner, Kerry E. Sieh, Hong-Wei Chiang, Chung-Che Wu, Louisa L.H. Tsang, Chuan-Chou Shen, Emma M. Hill, Bambang W. Suwargadi, Danny H. Natawidjaja, Belle Philibosian, Richard W. Briggs

Analyzing high resolution topography for advancing the understanding of mass and energy transfer through landscapes: A review Analyzing high resolution topography for advancing the understanding of mass and energy transfer through landscapes: A review

The study of mass and energy transfer across landscapes has recently evolved to comprehensive considerations acknowledging the role of biota and humans as geomorphic agents, as well as the importance of small-scale landscape features. A contributing and supporting factor to this evolution is the emergence over the last two decades of technologies able to acquire high resolution...
Authors
Paola Passaiacquaa, Patrick Belmont, Dennis M. Staley, Jeffery Simley, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Collin A. Bode, Christopher Crosby, Stephen DeLong, Nancy Glenn, Sara Kelly, Dimitri Lague, Harish Sangireddy, Keelin Schaffrath, David Tarboton, Thad Wasklewicz, Joseph Wheaton

Kinematics of shallow backthrusts in the Seattle fault zone, Washington State Kinematics of shallow backthrusts in the Seattle fault zone, Washington State

Near-surface thrust fault splays and antithetic backthrusts at the tips of major thrust fault systems can distribute slip across multiple shallow fault strands, complicating earthquake hazard analyses based on studies of surface faulting. The shallow expression of the fault strands forming the Seattle fault zone of Washington State shows the structural relationships and interactions...
Authors
Thomas L. Pratt, K.G. Troost, Jackson K. Odum, William J. Stephenson

Chronology and ecology of late Pleistocene megafauna in the northern Willamette Valley, Oregon Chronology and ecology of late Pleistocene megafauna in the northern Willamette Valley, Oregon

Since the mid-19th century, western Oregon's Willamette Valley has been a source of remains from a wide variety of extinct megafauna. Few of these have been previously described or dated, but new chronologic and isotopic analyses in conjunction with updated evaluations of stratigraphic context provide substantial new information on the species present, timing of losses, and...
Authors
Daniel M. Gilmour, Virginia L. Butler, James E. O'Connor, Edward Byrd Davis, Brendan J. Culleton, Douglas J. Kennett, Gregory W. L. Hodgins

Asteroid photometry Asteroid photometry

Asteroid photometry has three major applications: providing clues about asteroid surface physical properties and compositions, facilitating photometric corrections, and helping design and plan ground-based and spacecraft observations. The most significant advances in asteroid photometry in the past decade were driven by spacecraft observations that collected spatially resolved imaging...
Authors
Jian-Yang Li, Paul Helfenstein, Bonnie J. Buratti, Driss Takir, Beth Ellen Clark

The use of wavenumber normalization in computing spatially averaged coherencies (KRSPAC) of microtremor data from asymmetric arrays The use of wavenumber normalization in computing spatially averaged coherencies (KRSPAC) of microtremor data from asymmetric arrays

The SPAC method of processing microtremor noise observations for estimation of Vs profiles has a limitation that the array has circular or triangular symmetry in order to allow spatial (azimuthal) averaging of inter-station coherencies over a constant station separation. Common processing methods allow for station separations to vary by typically ±10% in the azimuthal averaging before...
Authors
M.W. Asten, William J. Stephenson, Stephen H. Hartzell

High‐resolution trench photomosaics from image‐based modeling: Workflow and error analysis High‐resolution trench photomosaics from image‐based modeling: Workflow and error analysis

Photomosaics are commonly used to construct maps of paleoseismic trench exposures, but the conventional process of manually using image‐editing software is time consuming and produces undesirable artifacts and distortions. Herein, we document and evaluate the application of image‐based modeling (IBM) for creating photomosaics and 3D models of paleoseismic trench exposures, illustrated...
Authors
Nadine G. Reitman, Scott E.K. Bennett, Ryan D. Gold, Richard W. Briggs, Christopher B. DuRoss
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