Publications
Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
Filter Total Items: 2782
A high-resolution 3-D P-wave velocity structure of the south-central Cascadia subduction zone from wide-angle shore-crossing seismic refraction data A high-resolution 3-D P-wave velocity structure of the south-central Cascadia subduction zone from wide-angle shore-crossing seismic refraction data
This study addresses a significant gap in understanding the features of the south-central Cascadia subduction zone, a region characterized by complex geologic, tectonic, and seismic transitions both offshore and onshore. Unlike other segments along this margin, this area lacks a 3-D velocity model to delineate its structural and geological features on a fine scale. To address this void...
Authors
Asif Ashraf, Emilie Hooft, Douglas Toomey, Anne Trehu, Sarah Nolan, Erin Wirth, Kevin Ward
Examining the role of elevated and sustained strain in dynamically triggering earthquakes on the Anza section of the San Jacinto fault Examining the role of elevated and sustained strain in dynamically triggering earthquakes on the Anza section of the San Jacinto fault
Microearthquakes can be dynamically triggered in southern California by remote earthquakes. However, directly connecting dynamic triggering mechanisms with observational data remains challenging. One proposed failure mechanism suggests that both the amplitude and duration of cyclic fatigue caused by the passing seismic wave contribute to triggering occurrence. Here, we measure dynamic...
Authors
Nicolas DeSalvio, Andrew Barbour, Wenyuan Fan
Long-term trends in microseismicity during operational shut-ins at the Coso Geothermal Field, California Long-term trends in microseismicity during operational shut-ins at the Coso Geothermal Field, California
Pausing injection and production can lead to induced seismicity in a variety of settings, with some of the largest events occurring during these so-called shut-ins. In geothermal fields, shut-ins are periodically conducted for maintenance on wells and surface infrastructure, thereby offering recurring means of estimating stress changes in the subsurface that lead to increased seismicity...
Authors
Joanna Holmgren, J. Ole Kaven, Volker Oye
ShakeAlert® version 3: Expected performance in large earthquakes ShakeAlert® version 3: Expected performance in large earthquakes
The ShakeAlert earthquake early warning (EEW) system partners along with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) licensed operators deliver EEW alerts to the public and trigger automated systems when a significant earthquake is expected to impact California, Oregon, or Washington. ShakeAlert’s primary goal is to provide usable warning times before the arrival of damaging shaking. EEW is most...
Authors
Jeffrey J. McGuire, Carl W. Ulberg, Angela I. Lux, Maren Bose, J.R. Andrews, Deborah Smith, B. Crowell, Jessica Murray, I. Henson, R. Hartog, C. Felizardo, Minh Huynh, M. Aranha, Grace Parker, Annemarie Baltay Sundstrom, Mark Murray, Glenn Biasi, Stephen Guiwits, Jessie K. Saunders, Andrew D. Good, V. Marcelo Santillan, C.W. Scrivener, Walter M. Szeliga, Timothy I. Melbourne, Victor Kress, Robert M. de Groot, Sara K. McBride, Douglas Given, Richard Allen, Thomas Heaton, Allen Husker, Valerie Thomas, Harold Tobin, Sumant Jha, Julian Bunn
Mapping bedrock outcrops in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California, USA) using machine learning Mapping bedrock outcrops in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California, USA) using machine learning
Accurate, high-resolution maps of bedrock outcrops can be valuable for applications such as models of land–atmosphere interactions, mineral assessments, ecosystem mapping, and hazard mapping. The increasing availability of high-resolution imagery can be coupled with machine learning techniques to improve regional bedrock outcrop maps. In the United States, the existing 30 m U.S...
Authors
Apoorva Shastry, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Brian Coltin, Jonathan Stock
What 25+ years of "Did You Feel It" intensities tell us about shaking in California What 25+ years of "Did You Feel It" intensities tell us about shaking in California
“When will the Big One happen?” is a question that people often have for earthquake scientists. But while waiting for the “Big One” to occur, people will usually experience frightening or damaging shaking from multiple relatively smaller‐magnitude earthquakes. Given this context, it raises the question: “Where does most of the damage come from?” Could smaller, yet more frequent...
Authors
Jenna Marie Chaffeur, Jessie Saunders, Sarah Minson, Annemarie Baltay Sundstrom, Elizabeth Cochran, Susan E. Hough, Vince Quitoriano, Morgan Page, James Blair
3D viscoelastic models of slip-deficit rate along the Cascadia subduction zone 3D viscoelastic models of slip-deficit rate along the Cascadia subduction zone
Interseismic deformation in the Pacific Northwest is constrained by the horizontal crustal velocity field derived from the Global Positioning System (GPS) in addition to vertical rates derived from GPS, leveling, and tide gauge measurements. Such measurements were folded in to deformation models of fault slip rates as part of the 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) update. Here I...
Authors
Frederick Pollitz
Haunted Summerville: Ghostly lights or earthquake lights? Haunted Summerville: Ghostly lights or earthquake lights?
Among the colorful local lore in the Charleston, South Carolina, area, are a number of ghost stories, shared not only over campfires but also in published books. Among the most well-known of the stories is the tale of the Summerville Light. Local lore holds that a strange light sometimes seen in a remote area is a lantern carried by the ghost of a local woman who once waited hours for...
Authors
Susan E. Hough
Slow slip detectability in seafloor pressure records offshore Alaska Slow slip detectability in seafloor pressure records offshore Alaska
In subduction zones worldwide, seafloor pressure data are used to observe tectonic deformation, particularly from megathrust earthquakes and slow slip events (SSEs). However, such measurements are also sensitive to oceanographic circulation-generated pressures over a range of frequencies that conflate with tectonic signals of interest. Using seafloor pressure and temperature data from...
Authors
Erik Fredrickson, Joan Gomberg, William Wilcock, Susan Hautala, Albert Hermann, H. Johnson
Simulating human behavior under earthquake early warning Simulating human behavior under earthquake early warning
Earthquakes are a rapid-onset hazard where advance planning and learning plays a key role in mitigating injuries and death to individuals. Recent advances in earthquake detection have resulted in the development of earthquake early warning (EEW) systems. These systems can provide advance warning to predetermined geographic regions that an earthquake is in progress, which may result in...
Authors
Matthew Wood, Sara K. McBride, Xilei Zhao, Dare Baldwin, Elizabeth Cochran, Xiaojian Zhang, Nico Luco, Ruggiero Lovreglio, Tom Cova
Reply to, “Comment on ‘The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture,’ by Roger Bilham and Susan E. Hough” Reply to, “Comment on ‘The 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake: Relic railroad offset reveals rupture,’ by Roger Bilham and Susan E. Hough”
We welcome this opportunity to respond to Pratt et al. (2024) (hereinafter P24). Bilham and Hough (2023) proposed a “first-cut” elastic deformation model for the 1886 earthquake, a quantitative source model constrained by identified coseismic constraints. A key observation was the measurement of a lateral offset of a railroad line south of Summerville, leading to a model with...
Authors
Roger Bilham, Susan Hough
SCEC/USGS Community Stress Drop Validation Study: How spectral fitting approaches influence measured source parameters SCEC/USGS Community Stress Drop Validation Study: How spectral fitting approaches influence measured source parameters
Spectral source parameters used to estimate an earthquake’s stress drop (Δσ) can vary significantly across measurement approaches. The Statewide California Earthquake Center/U.S. Geological Survey Community Stress-Drop Validation Study was initiated to compare source parameter estimates, focusing initially on a dataset from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence. As part of that...
Authors
Elizabeth Cochran, Annemarie Baltay Sundstrom, Shanna Chu, Rachel E. Abercrombie, Dino Bindi, X. Chen, Grace Parker, Colin Pennington, Peter Shearer, Daniel Trugman