Publications

We provide ground-motion prediction equations for computing medians and standard deviations of average horizontal component intensity measures (IMs) for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions. The equations were derived from a global database with M 3.0–7.9 events. We derived equations for the primary M- and distance-dependence of the IMs after fixing the VS30-based...

No abstract available.

The analysis of historical earthquakes in the northeastern Caribbean by ten Brink et al. [2011, hereafter TB11] addresses the occurrence of large and destructive historical earthquakes associated with the North American-Caribbean plate boundary. One conclusion presented in TB11 is that the recurrence interval for large earthquakes on the left-lateral, strike-slip Septentrional Fault (SF)...

To better understand what controls fault slip along plate boundaries, we have exploited the abundance of seismic and geodetic data available from the richly varied tectonic environments composing Alaska. A search for tremor triggered by 11 large earthquakes throughout all of seismically monitored Alaska reveals two tremor “sweet spots”—regions where large-amplitude seismic waves...

We show that perchlorate hydrates, which have been detected at high circumpolar martian latitudes, have a dramatic effect upon the rheological behavior of polycrystalline water ice under conditions applicable to the North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD). We conducted subsolidus creep tests on mixtures of ice and magnesium perchlorate hydrate, Mg(ClO4)2·6H2O (MP6), of 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, and...

Two recent earthquakes left their mark on Santiago de Chile and Tokyo, well beyond the rupture zones, raising questions about the future vulnerability of these and other cities that lie in seismically active regions. Though spared strong shaking, the megacities nevertheless lit up in small quakes, perhaps signaling an abrupt change in the condition for failure on the faults beneath the...

This chapter summarizes the state-of-the-art for rapid earthquake impact estimation. It details the needs and challenges associated with quick estimation of earthquake losses following global earthquakes, and provides a brief literature review of various approaches that have been used in the past. With this background, the chapter introduces the operational earthquake loss estimation...

In this study, we quantify the seismic and tsunami hazard in the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, focusing on the plate interface offshore of Guadeloupe. We compare potential strain accumulated via GPS-derived plate motions to strain release due to earthquakes that have occurred over the past 110 yr, and compute the resulting moment deficit. Our results suggest that enough strain is...

On December 12, 2004, an earthquake of magnitude 2.2, located in the TauTona Gold Mine at a depth of about 3.65 km in the ancient Pretorius fault zone, was recorded by the in-mine borehole seismic network, yielding an excellent set of ground motion data recorded at hypocentral distances of several km. From these data, the seismic moment tensor, indicating mostly normal faulting with a...

The Charlevoix, Quebec, earthquake of 20 October 1870 caused damage to several towns in Quebec and was felt throughout much of southeastern Canada and along the U.S. Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Maryland. Site‐specific damage and felt reports from Canadian and U.S. cities and towns were used in analyses of the location and magnitude of the earthquake. The macroseismic center of the...

The most commonly used intensity measure in ground-motion prediction equations is the pseudo-absolute response spectral acceleration (PSA), for response periods from 0.01 to 10 s (or frequencies from 0.1 to 100 Hz). PSAs are often derived from recorded ground motions, and these motions are usually filtered to remove high and low frequencies before the PSAs are computed. In this article...

The catastrophic Christ Church Earthquake is a strong reminder to engineers and scientists of the hazards pose by fault lines, both mapped and unknown, near major cities. In February 2011, the relatively moderate earthquake that struck the cities of Christchurch and Lyttleton in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island surprised many with its destructive power. The magnitude 6...