Conference Papers

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG), and the Clean Energy Ministerial Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Initiative (CEM-CCUS Initiative), plans to work with partner nations to assess geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) storage...

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A critical gap in planetary observations has been in situ characterization of extra-terrestrial, present-day atmospheric and surface environments and activity. While some surface activity has been observed and some in situ meteorological measurements have been collected by auxiliary instruments on Mars, existing information is insufficient to conclusively characterize the natural...

Nine rock-rubble fish spawning placements, or artificial reef complexes, constructed in the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers between 2004 to 2018 were surveyed periodically with multibeam sonar. These serial bathymetric surveys, conducted in 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2022, identified active sand bedform fields impinging two reef complexes: Fighting Island in the Detroit River and Middle Channel...

Temporary ice-dammed glacial lakes formed high in the landscape in several westward sloping valleys on the east side of the Connecticut Valley lowland during late Wisconsinan deglaciation. These lakes were impounded by a lengthy lobe of ice that extended farther south in the lowland than at upland retreatal ice-margin positions (fig. 1). The formation, lowering, and drainage of these ice...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) is used in construction codes, such as the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) Provisions, to develop ground motions for structural and geotechnical design. When the NSHM is updated (e.g. changes to its earthquake rupture forecast or ground motion models), or the manner in which it is implemented in

A variety of models exist for characterizing earthquake-induced ground failures, but application of these models towards regional seismic performance assessments of buried pipelines remains challenging. One challenge is that ground failures often occur at localized geospatial scales while buried pipelines are spatially distributed over long distances. In this study, we propose a...

We develop an empirical, spatially continuous model for the single-station within-event (ϕSS) component of earthquake ground motion variability in the Los Angeles area. ϕSS represents event-to-event variability in site response or remaining variability due to path effects not captured by ground motion models. Site-specific values of ϕSS at permanent seismic network stations were...

We investigate bias in ground motions predicted for Central and Eastern North America (CENA) using ground motion models (GMMs) combined with site amplification models developed in the NGA-East project. Bias is anticipated because of de-coupled procedures used in the development of the GMMs and site amplification models. The NGA-East GMMs were mainly calibrated by adjusting CENA data to a...

This paper presents a summary of the applicability of the NGA-West2 damping scaling factors to ground motions recorded in France. In developing ground motion models for response spectra, generally, the damping of the oscillator is set to a reference value of five percent of the critical damping. Damping scaling factors (DSF) are used to translate the predictions of 5%-damped ground...

Earthquake scenarios are generally selected to serve a wide variety of local and regional needs ranging from testing a community’s ability to respond to earthquakes to developing proactive targeted mitigation strategies for minimizing impending risk. These deterministic scenarios can also be used to communicate seismic hazard and risk to audiences who are not well versed in more complex...

Portfolio managers of spatially distributed assets in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) and other low- to moderate seismic hazard regions require scenario-based seismic risk assessment for the purpose of emergency management and planning. Uncertainties regarding the long-term seismicity of the region, unknown faults, and limited historical records complicate the selection of...