Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 2874

Pulsed strain release on the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China Pulsed strain release on the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China

Earthquake recurrence models assume that major surface-rupturing earthquakes are followed by periods of reduced rupture probability as stress rebuilds. Although purely periodic, time- or slip-predictable rupture models are known to be oversimplifications, a paucity of long records of fault slip clouds understanding of fault behavior and earthquake recurrence over multiple ruptures. Here...
Authors
Ryan D. Gold, Eric Cowgill, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Anke M. Friedrich

Frictional strength of wet and dry montmorillonite Frictional strength of wet and dry montmorillonite

Montmorillonite is a common mineral in fault zones, and its low strength relative to other common gouge minerals is important in many models of fault rheology. However, the coefficient of friction, μ, varies with degree of saturation and is not well constrained in the literature due to the difficulty of establishing fully drained or fully dried states in the laboratory. We measured μ of...
Authors
Carolyn A. Morrow, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner

An updated geospatial liquefaction model for global application An updated geospatial liquefaction model for global application

We present an updated geospatial approach to estimation of earthquake-induced liquefaction from globally available geospatial proxies. Our previous iteration of the geospatial liquefaction model was based on mapped liquefaction surface effects from four earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Kobe, Japan, paired with geospatial explanatory variables including slope-derived VS30...
Authors
Jing Zhu, Laurie G. Baise, Eric M. Thompson

Repeatability of testing a small broadband sensor in the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory Underground Vault Repeatability of testing a small broadband sensor in the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory Underground Vault

Variability in seismic instrumentation performance plays a fundamental role in our ability to carry out experiments in observational seismology. Many such experiments rely on the assumed performance of various seismic sensors as well as on methods to isolate the sensors from nonseismic noise sources. We look at the repeatability of estimating the self‐noise, midband sensitivity, and the...
Authors
Adam T. Ringler, Austin Holland, David C. Wilson

The 2008 Wells, Nevada earthquake sequence: Source constraints using calibrated multiple event relocation and InSAR The 2008 Wells, Nevada earthquake sequence: Source constraints using calibrated multiple event relocation and InSAR

The 2008 Wells, NV earthquake represents the largest domestic event in the conterminous U.S. outside of California since the October 1983 Borah Peak earthquake in southern Idaho. We present an improved catalog, magnitude complete to 1.6, of the foreshock-aftershock sequence, supplementing the current U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE) catalog with...
Authors
Jennifer Nealy, Harley M. Benz, Gavin P. Hayes, Eric Berman, William D. Barnhart

A note on adding viscoelasticity to earthquake simulators A note on adding viscoelasticity to earthquake simulators

Here, I describe how time‐dependent quasi‐static stress transfer can be implemented in an earthquake simulator code that is used to generate long synthetic seismicity catalogs. Most existing seismicity simulators use precomputed static stress interaction coefficients to rapidly implement static stress transfer in fault networks with typically tens of thousands of fault patches. The...
Authors
Frederick Pollitz

System identification based on deconvolution and cross correlation: An application to a 20‐story instrumented building in Anchorage, Alaska System identification based on deconvolution and cross correlation: An application to a 20‐story instrumented building in Anchorage, Alaska

Deconvolution and cross‐correlation techniques are used for system identification of a 20‐story steel, moment‐resisting frame building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. This regular‐plan midrise structure is instrumented with a 32‐channel accelerometer array at 10 levels. The impulse response functions (IRFs) and correlation functions (CFs) are computed based on waveforms recorded from...
Authors
Weiping Wen, Erol Kalkan

Spatio-temporal mapping of plate boundary faults in California using geodetic imaging Spatio-temporal mapping of plate boundary faults in California using geodetic imaging

The Pacific–North American plate boundary in California is composed of a 400-km-wide network of faults and zones of distributed deformation. Earthquakes, even large ones, can occur along individual or combinations of faults within the larger plate boundary system. While research often focuses on the primary and secondary faults, holistic study of the plate boundary is required to answer...
Authors
Andrea Donnellan, Ramon Arrowsmith, Stephen B. DeLong

Finite‐fault Bayesian inversion of teleseismic body waves Finite‐fault Bayesian inversion of teleseismic body waves

Inverting geophysical data has provided fundamental information about the behavior of earthquake rupture. However, inferring kinematic source model parameters for finite‐fault ruptures is an intrinsically underdetermined problem (the problem of nonuniqueness), because we are restricted to finite noisy observations. Although many studies use least‐squares techniques to make the finite...
Authors
Brandon S. Clayton, Stephen H. Hartzell, Morgan P. Moschetti, Sarah E. Minson

Geodetic slip model of the 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee, Oklahoma, earthquake: Evidence for fault‐zone collapse Geodetic slip model of the 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee, Oklahoma, earthquake: Evidence for fault‐zone collapse

The 3 September 2016 Mw 5.8 Pawnee earthquake in northern Oklahoma is the largest earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma. The coseismic deformation was measured with both Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Global Positioning System (GPS), with measureable signals of order 1 cm and 1 mm, respectively. We derive a coseismic slip model from Sentinel‐1A and Radarsat 2 interferograms...
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Charles W. Wicks, Martin Schoenball, William L. Ellsworth, Mark Murray

3.5 square meters: Constructive responses to natural disasters 3.5 square meters: Constructive responses to natural disasters

Natural disasters and their consequences dominate the news almost on a daily basis. Quick-impact preventive and aid measures are essential for the victims to survive. This volume presents a selection of projects which demonstrate impressively how both cutting-edge technology and locally available materials and resources can be used for this purpose.
Was this page helpful?