Publications
Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
Filter Total Items: 2785
Characterizing ground motions that collapse steel special moment-resisting frames or make them unrepairable Characterizing ground motions that collapse steel special moment-resisting frames or make them unrepairable
This work applies 64,765 simulated seismic ground motions to four models each of 6- or 20-story, steel special moment-resisting frame buildings. We consider two vector intensity measures and categorize the building response as “collapsed,” “unrepairable,” or “repairable.” We then propose regression models to predict the building responses from the intensity measures. The best models for...
Authors
Anna H. Olsen, Thomas H. Heaton, John F. Hall
Focused exhumation along megathrust splay faults in Prince William Sound, Alaska Focused exhumation along megathrust splay faults in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Megathrust splay faults are a common feature of accretionary prisms and can be important for generating tsunamis during some subduction zone earthquakes. Here we provide new evidence from Alaska that megathrust splay faults have been conduits for focused exhumation in the last 5 Ma. In most of central Prince William Sound, published and new low-temperature thermochronology data indicate...
Authors
Peter J. Haeussler, Phillip A Armstrong, Lee M Liberty, Kelly M Ferguson, Shaun P Finn, Jeannette C Arkle, Thomas L. Pratt
Incorporating induced seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model: results of the 2014 workshop and sensitivity studies Incorporating induced seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model: results of the 2014 workshop and sensitivity studies
The U.S. Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model for the conterminous United States was updated in 2014 to account for new methods, input models, and data necessary for assessing the seismic ground shaking hazard from natural (tectonic) earthquakes. The U.S. Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model project uses probabilistic seismic hazard analysis to quantify the rate of...
Authors
Mark D. Petersen, Charles S. Mueller, Morgan P. Moschetti, Susan M. Hoover, Justin L. Rubinstein, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, William L. Ellsworth, Arthur F. McGarr, Austin A. Holland, John G. Anderson
Near-surface versus fault zone damage following the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake: Observation and simulation of repeating earthquakes Near-surface versus fault zone damage following the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake: Observation and simulation of repeating earthquakes
We observe crustal damage and its subsequent recovery caused by the 1999 M7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake in central Taiwan. Analysis of repeating earthquakes in Hualien region, ~70 km east of the Chi-Chi earthquake, shows a remarkable change in wave propagation beginning in the year 2000, revealing damage within the fault zone and distributed across the near surface. We use moving window cross...
Authors
Kate Huihsuan Chen, Takashi Furumura, Justin L. Rubinstein
A sea-level database for the Pacific coast of central North America A sea-level database for the Pacific coast of central North America
A database of published and new relative sea-level (RSL) data for the past 16 ka constrains the sea-level histories of the Pacific coast of central North America (southern British Columbia to central California). Our reevaluation of the stratigraphic context and radiocarbon age of sea-level indicators from geological and archaeological investigations yields 600 sea-level index points and...
Authors
Simon E. Engelhart, Matteo Vacchi, Benjamin P. Horton, Alan R. Nelson, Robert E. Kopp
A tribute to George Plafker A tribute to George Plafker
In a long and distinguished career, George Plafker made fundamental advances in understanding of megathrust tectonics, tsunami generation, paleoseismology, crustal neotectonics, and Alaskan geology, chiefly by means of geological field observations. George discovered that giant earthquakes result from tens of meters of seismic slip on subduction megathrusts, and he did this before the...
Authors
Gary S. Fuis, Peter J. Haeussler, Brian F. Atwater
Coastal evidence for Holocene subduction-zone earthquakes and tsunamis in central Chile Coastal evidence for Holocene subduction-zone earthquakes and tsunamis in central Chile
The ∼500-year historical record of seismicity along the central Chile coast (30–34°S) is characterized by a series of ∼M 8.0–8.5 earthquakes followed by low tsunamis (10 m), but the frequency of such large events is unknown. We extend the seismic history of central Chile through a study of a lowland stratigraphic sequence along the metropolitan coast north of Valparaíso (33°S). At this...
Authors
Tina Dure, Marco Cisternas, Benjamin Horton, Lisa Ely, Alan R. Nelson, Robert L. Wesson, Jessica Pilarczyk
Proceedings of the 9th U.S.-Japan natural resources panel for earthquake research Proceedings of the 9th U.S.-Japan natural resources panel for earthquake research
Introduction The UJNR Panel on Earthquake Research promotes advanced study toward a more fundamental understanding of the earthquake process and hazard estimation. The Ninth Joint meeting was extremely beneficial in furthering cooperation and deepening understanding of problems common to both the U.S. and Japan. The meeting included productive exchanges of information on approaches to...
The importance of particulate texture to the flow strength of ice + dust The importance of particulate texture to the flow strength of ice + dust
Preliminary experimental surveys of the flow of dilute mixtures of ice plus hard particulates under planetary conditions indicate a strengthening effect with respect to pure ice, but with dependencies on environmental conditions (temperature, stress, grain size) that vary widely from study to study [1-4]. With the expectation that the textural character of the particulate fraction (size...
Authors
W. B. Durham, N. Golding, Laura A. Stern, A. Pathare, D. L. Goldsby, D. Prior
UCERF3: A new earthquake forecast for California's complex fault system 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), provides authoritative estimates of the...
Authors
Edward H. Field
The Mw6.0 24 August 2014 South Napa earthquake The Mw6.0 24 August 2014 South Napa earthquake
The Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake, which occurred at 10:20 UTC 24 August 2014 was the largest earthquake to strike the greater San Francisco Bay area since the Mw 6.9 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The rupture from this right‐lateral earthquake propagated mostly unilaterally to the north and up‐dip, directing the strongest shaking toward the city of Napa, where peak ground accelerations...
Authors
Thomas M. Brocher, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Fred F. Pollitz, Jessica R. Murray, Andrea L. Llenos, David P. Schwartz, J. Luke Blair, Daniel J. Ponti, James J. Lienkaemper, Victoria E. Langenheim, Timothy E. Dawson, Kenneth W. Hudnut, David R. Shelly, Douglas S. Dreger, John Boatwright, Brad T. Aagaard, David J. Wald, Richard M. Allen, William D. Barnhart, Keith L. Knudsen, Benjamin A. Brooks, Katherine M. Scharer
The comparative limnology of Lakes Nyos and Monoun, Cameroon The comparative limnology of Lakes Nyos and Monoun, Cameroon
Lakes Nyos and Monoun are known for the dangerous accumulation of CO2 dissolved in stagnant bottom water, but the shallow waters that conceal this hazard are dilute and undergo seasonal changes similar to other deep crater lakes in the tropics. Here we discuss these changes with reference to climatic and water-column data collected at both lakes during the years following the gas release...
Authors
George Kling, William C Evans, Gregory Tanyileke