USGS science helps to understand and quantify the risks natural hazards pose to Bay-Delta habitats, communities, and infrastructure.
Property in the Bay-Delta is often protected behind levees. Because of severe subsidence in parts of the Delta and the threat of sea-level rise from climate change, levee stability is a primary concern in the region. USGS scientists are characterizing the subsurface geology to increase understanding of the earthquake faults that could affect the Bay-Delta and its levees. They are also developing three-dimensional (3-D) maps to determine fault locations, maximum possible earthquake magnitudes and fault-slip rates, and how seismic waves would behave in the sandy and peaty soils of the Bay-Delta. USGS is using innovative technologies, such as lidar (light detection and ranging; a remote-sensing technique) and InSAR (space-borne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar), to better understand subsidence and other ground movements and determine how these ground movements affect levee stability.
For more information see:
Seismic Hazards in the Sacramento Delta
Progress Toward a Safer Future Since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
Back to San Francisco Bay-Delta Science
- Overview
USGS science helps to understand and quantify the risks natural hazards pose to Bay-Delta habitats, communities, and infrastructure.
Property in the Bay-Delta is often protected behind levees. Because of severe subsidence in parts of the Delta and the threat of sea-level rise from climate change, levee stability is a primary concern in the region. USGS scientists are characterizing the subsurface geology to increase understanding of the earthquake faults that could affect the Bay-Delta and its levees. They are also developing three-dimensional (3-D) maps to determine fault locations, maximum possible earthquake magnitudes and fault-slip rates, and how seismic waves would behave in the sandy and peaty soils of the Bay-Delta. USGS is using innovative technologies, such as lidar (light detection and ranging; a remote-sensing technique) and InSAR (space-borne Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar), to better understand subsidence and other ground movements and determine how these ground movements affect levee stability.
For more information see:
Seismic Hazards in the Sacramento Delta
Progress Toward a Safer Future Since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
Back to San Francisco Bay-Delta Science