Katherine (Kate) Scharer
Dr. Scharer holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and a B.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Washington.
Prior to coming to the USGS, she was a professor at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. Dr. Scharer studies the timing and size of pre-historic earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault and other active faults in southern California, Alaska, and the Dominican Republic. She also investigates the deformation produced by tectonic motion through a combination of field mapping, lidar analysis, and Quaternary geochronologic methods.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 43
Photomosaics and event evidence from the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site, trench 1, cuts 1–4, San Andreas Fault Zone, southern California (2007–2009)
The Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site is located at the northwest end of the Mojave section of the San Andreas Fault, in a small, closed depression at the base of Frazier Mountain near Tejon Pass, California (lat 34.8122° N., long 118.9034° W.). The site was known to contain a good record of earthquakes due to previous excavations by Lindvall and others (2002). This report provides data resulting
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Tom E. Fumal, Ray J. Weldon, Ashley R. Streig
Southern San Andreas Fault evaluation field activity: approaches to measuring small geomorphic offsets--challenges and recommendations for active fault studies
In southern California, where fast slip rates and sparse vegetation contribute to crisp expression of faults and microtopography, field and high‐resolution topographic data (
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, J. Barrett Salisbury, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Thomas K. Rockwell
The 2011 Mw 7.1 Van (Eastern Turkey) earthquake
We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), body wave seismology, satellite imagery, and field observations to constrain the fault parameters of the Mw 7.1 2011 Van (Eastern Turkey) reverse-slip earthquake, in the Turkish-Iranian plateau. Distributed slip models from elastic dislocation modeling of the InSAR surface displacements from ENVISAT and COSMO-SkyMed interferograms indicate u
Authors
John R. Elliot, Alex C. Copley, R. Holley, Katherine M. Scharer, Barry Parsons
A reevaluation of the Pallett Creek earthquake chronology based on new AMS radiocarbon dates, San Andreas fault, California
The Pallett Creek paleoseismic record occupies a keystone position in most attempts to develop rupture histories for the southern San Andreas fault. Previous estimates of earthquake ages at Pallett Creek were determined by decay counting radiocarbon methods. That method requires large samples which can lead to unaccounted sources of uncertainty in radiocarbon ages because of the heterogeneous comp
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, G. P. Biasi, R.J. Weldon
Quasi-periodic recurrence of large earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault
It has been 153 yr since the last large earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault (California, United States), but the average interseismic interval is only ~100 yr. If the recurrence of large earthquakes is periodic, rather than random or clustered, the length of this period is notable and would generally increase the risk estimated in probabilistic seismic hazard analyses. Unfortunately, robu
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Glenn P. Biasi, Ray J. Weldon, Tom E. Fumal
Photomosaics and logs of trenches on the San Andreas Fault near Coachella, California
The Coachella paleoseismic site is located on the San Andreas Fault along the northeast edge of the Coachella Valley in southern California east of Dillon Road and south of Avenue 44. Three benched trenches, a total of more than 950 m, were excavated across the fault zone as part of an Alquist-Priolo fault investigation study. These trenches exposed a thick section of latest Holocene lacustrine, f
Authors
Belle Philibosian, Thomas E. Fumal, Ray J. Weldon, Katherine J. Kendrick, Katherine M. Scharer, Sean P. Bemis, Reed J. Burgette, Beth A. Wisely
Past and future earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault
No abstract available.
Authors
Ray J. Weldon, Thomas E. Fumal, Glenn Biasi, Katherine M. Scharer
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 43
Photomosaics and event evidence from the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site, trench 1, cuts 1–4, San Andreas Fault Zone, southern California (2007–2009)
The Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site is located at the northwest end of the Mojave section of the San Andreas Fault, in a small, closed depression at the base of Frazier Mountain near Tejon Pass, California (lat 34.8122° N., long 118.9034° W.). The site was known to contain a good record of earthquakes due to previous excavations by Lindvall and others (2002). This report provides data resulting
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Tom E. Fumal, Ray J. Weldon, Ashley R. Streig
Southern San Andreas Fault evaluation field activity: approaches to measuring small geomorphic offsets--challenges and recommendations for active fault studies
In southern California, where fast slip rates and sparse vegetation contribute to crisp expression of faults and microtopography, field and high‐resolution topographic data (
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, J. Barrett Salisbury, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, Thomas K. Rockwell
The 2011 Mw 7.1 Van (Eastern Turkey) earthquake
We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), body wave seismology, satellite imagery, and field observations to constrain the fault parameters of the Mw 7.1 2011 Van (Eastern Turkey) reverse-slip earthquake, in the Turkish-Iranian plateau. Distributed slip models from elastic dislocation modeling of the InSAR surface displacements from ENVISAT and COSMO-SkyMed interferograms indicate u
Authors
John R. Elliot, Alex C. Copley, R. Holley, Katherine M. Scharer, Barry Parsons
A reevaluation of the Pallett Creek earthquake chronology based on new AMS radiocarbon dates, San Andreas fault, California
The Pallett Creek paleoseismic record occupies a keystone position in most attempts to develop rupture histories for the southern San Andreas fault. Previous estimates of earthquake ages at Pallett Creek were determined by decay counting radiocarbon methods. That method requires large samples which can lead to unaccounted sources of uncertainty in radiocarbon ages because of the heterogeneous comp
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, G. P. Biasi, R.J. Weldon
Quasi-periodic recurrence of large earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault
It has been 153 yr since the last large earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault (California, United States), but the average interseismic interval is only ~100 yr. If the recurrence of large earthquakes is periodic, rather than random or clustered, the length of this period is notable and would generally increase the risk estimated in probabilistic seismic hazard analyses. Unfortunately, robu
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Glenn P. Biasi, Ray J. Weldon, Tom E. Fumal
Photomosaics and logs of trenches on the San Andreas Fault near Coachella, California
The Coachella paleoseismic site is located on the San Andreas Fault along the northeast edge of the Coachella Valley in southern California east of Dillon Road and south of Avenue 44. Three benched trenches, a total of more than 950 m, were excavated across the fault zone as part of an Alquist-Priolo fault investigation study. These trenches exposed a thick section of latest Holocene lacustrine, f
Authors
Belle Philibosian, Thomas E. Fumal, Ray J. Weldon, Katherine J. Kendrick, Katherine M. Scharer, Sean P. Bemis, Reed J. Burgette, Beth A. Wisely
Past and future earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault
No abstract available.
Authors
Ray J. Weldon, Thomas E. Fumal, Glenn Biasi, Katherine M. Scharer