Nadine G Reitman, PhD
As an earthquake geologist, I use numerical modeling, field observations, and remote sensing to investigate the earthquake history and behavior of active faults, as well as how earthquake history is recorded in the landscape.
Professional Experience
Research Geologist, USGS, 2020-Present
Geologist, USGS, 2014-2016
Physical Science Technician, Denali National Park, 2010, 2011, 2013
Education and Certifications
PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, 2016-2020
MS, University of Colorado Boulder, 2011-2013
BA, Vassar College, 2006-2010
Science and Products
How Big and How Frequent Are Earthquakes on the Wasatch Fault?
Release Date: FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Paleoseismology along the Wasatch Fault in Utah is helping to estimate the shaking risk to nearby towns.
Filter Total Items: 15
Digital elevation models, orthophotos, and differencing results to analyze the effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high-resolution satellite optical imagery Digital elevation models, orthophotos, and differencing results to analyze the effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high-resolution satellite optical imagery
Synthetic earthquake deformation was imposed on high resolution (~0.5 m/pixel)orthoimagery and digital elevation models (DEMs) for two regions of the Garlock fault in the east and west. This repository contains the input and result rasters for the analysis, further described in Hanagan et al. (2025): "Effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high...
Detailed Mapping of the 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake Surface Rupture (Idaho, USA) Using a High-Resolution Digital Terrain Model Derived from 2019 Lidar Data Detailed Mapping of the 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake Surface Rupture (Idaho, USA) Using a High-Resolution Digital Terrain Model Derived from 2019 Lidar Data
In this work, we refined and expanded the coseismic surface rupture map of the 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake coseismic rupture mapping at a scale of 1:500. While earlier work (DuRoss et al., 2019; Bello et al., 2020, 2021) used structure-from-motion (SfM) methods to construct digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS or drone) imagery, the...
Datasets documenting Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record Datasets documenting Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record
This data release provides input data and landscape evolution modeling results to accompany the manuscript “Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record" (Thompson Jobe and Reitman, 2025). The data release includes two tabular datasets, a text file, and movies of the landscape...
Digital Surface Model of the Lost River Fault, Idaho, from 1966 Aerial Photographs Digital Surface Model of the Lost River Fault, Idaho, from 1966 Aerial Photographs
This data release contains a point cloud and raster image of a digital surface model (DSM) that covers a portion of the Lost River fault in Idaho that ruptured in the 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake. The DSM provides a high-resolution, pre-earthquake record of the landscape from 1966. It is constructed using structure-from-motion photogrammetry software and aerial photographs taken in...
Computational notebook to plot offset measurements along strike-slip faults Computational notebook to plot offset measurements along strike-slip faults
Summary: This computational notebook is intended to visualize any dataset of offset measurements along a fault, including datasets for single or multiple earthquakes. It is used to plot recent, geomorphic, and synthetic offset measurements for the companion manuscript: Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record by N.G. Reitman, Y. Klinger, R. Briggs...
Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (central and eastern United States), version 1.0 Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (central and eastern United States), version 1.0
This Data Release contains three related databases for the Central and Eastern United States: 1) A fault sections database ("NSHM2023_FaultSections_CEUS_v1"), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, 2) A fault zone polygon database ("NSHM2023_FaultPolygons_CEUS_v1"), which depicts the geometry of distributed fault zones capable of hosting repeated...
Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2025 (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), version 1.0 Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2025 (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), version 1.0
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of three related geologic input databases for the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) region (62°–70° W and 16°–21° N) of the United States: 1) A fault sections database (“NSHM2025_FaultSections_PRVI_v1’”), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, 2) a fault-zone polygon database ("NSHM2025...
Quaternary fault mapping of the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone from high-resolution 3DEP topography Quaternary fault mapping of the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone from high-resolution 3DEP topography
This data release contains a dataset that depicts fault scarps along the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone located in the San Luis basin of southern Colorado. The Zapata and Blanca sections extend from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve to the Blanca Peak massif and are differentiated by a sharp change in fault zone orientation from north-south to...
UAV imagery and digital elevation data for the debris slide in Chaos Canyon, 28 June 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. UAV imagery and digital elevation data for the debris slide in Chaos Canyon, 28 June 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
This dataset contains a point cloud (HalletPeak_PointCloud.las), digital elevation model (HalletPeak_DEM.tif), and orthoimagery (HalletPeak_Ortho.tif) of a debris slide originating on the southeast flank of Hallett Peak and sliding into Upper Chaos Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. The slide occurred on 28 June 2022, and imagery was obtained on 15 July 2022. These...
Fault Rupture Mapping of the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, Earthquake Sequence from Satellite Data (ver. 1.1, February 2024) Fault Rupture Mapping of the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, Earthquake Sequence from Satellite Data (ver. 1.1, February 2024)
This data release contains two datasets that depict fault rupture on the East Anatolian and Çardak faults resulting from the Mw7.8 and Mw7.5 earthquakes in Turkey (Türkiye). It contains two additional datasets that describe satellite imagery coverage and observation gaps. The 6 February 2023 earthquake sequence caused >500 km of combined surface rupture on the primarily left-lateral...
Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023, version 1.0 Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023, version 1.0
The U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) relies on deformation models to assign slip rates along active faults used in the earthquake rupture forecast. Here, we present the geologic deformation model results in tabular form. We provide model outputs in multiple file formats, as well as the polygons used in analyses throughout the geologic deformation model process.The data presented...
Strike-slip in transtension: Complex crustal architecture of the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane Strike-slip in transtension: Complex crustal architecture of the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane
This data release contains field data for two P-wave seismic reflection profiles acquired across the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, part of the Northern Walker Lane, NV. The dataset consists of high-resolution seismic reflection field records in .segy format, shot coordinates in .csv format, and observers? logs in .pdf format. The high-resolution seismic profiles are approximately 4 km...
Filter Total Items: 25
Ultralong, supershear rupture of the 2025 Mw 7.7 Mandalay earthquake reveals unaccounted risk Ultralong, supershear rupture of the 2025 Mw 7.7 Mandalay earthquake reveals unaccounted risk
The 28 March 2025 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.7 earthquake in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), ruptured 475 kilometers of the Sagaing Fault, which was more than twice the length predicted by magnitude scaling relationships. Kinematic slip models and observation of a Rayleigh Mach wave that passed through parts of Thailand confirmed that rupture occurred at supershear velocities of greater than 5...
Authors
Dara Goldberg, William Yeck, Catherine Elise Hanagan, James Atterholt, Haiyang Kehoe, Nadine Reitman, William Barnhart, David Shelly, Alexandra Hatem, David Wald, Paul Earle
Unveiling coseismic deformation from differenced legacy aerial photography and modern lidar topography: The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake, Idaho, USA Unveiling coseismic deformation from differenced legacy aerial photography and modern lidar topography: The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake, Idaho, USA
The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak, Idaho, earthquake is one of the largest historical normal fault earthquakes in the western United States. We quantified meter-scale vertical change along the 35 km-long rupture using topographic differencing of 1966 aerial imagery and 2019 lidar-derived data. The initial differencing results are largely obscured by horizontal and vertical georeferencing errors...
Authors
Chelsea Scott, Nadine Reitman, Simone Bello
Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record
Large surface-rupturing intraplate earthquakes in stable continental regions (SCRs) are uncommon globally and have recurrence intervals of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years based on the paleoseismic and geomorphic record, challenging accurate active fault identification in these regions. To constrain the timescales of preservation for scarps created by surface ruptures from dip...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Nadine Reitman
Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record
Offset geomorphic markers are commonly used to interpret slip history of strike-slip faults and have played an important role in forming earthquake recurrence models. These data sets are typically analyzed using cumulative probability methods to interpret average amounts of slip in past earthquakes. However, interpretation of the geomorphic record to infer surface slip history is...
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Yann Klinger, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold
Geologic input databases for the 2025 Puerto Rico – U.S. Virgin Islands National Seismic Hazard Model update: Crustal faults component Geologic input databases for the 2025 Puerto Rico – U.S. Virgin Islands National Seismic Hazard Model update: Crustal faults component
The last National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) was published in 2003. In advance of the 2025 PRVI NSHM update, we created three geologic input databases to summarize new onshore and offshore fault source information in the northern Caribbean region between 62°–70° W and 16°–21° N. These databases, of fault sections, fault‐zone polygons...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Richard Briggs, Uri ten Brink, Thomas Pratt, K. Hughes, Alexandra Hatem, Christopher DuRoss, Nadine Reitman, Julie Herrick, Sylvia Nicovich, Camille Collett, Katherine M. Scharer, Stephen DeLong
Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE): Summary of U.S. Geological Survey URGE pod deliverables Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE): Summary of U.S. Geological Survey URGE pod deliverables
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is in a unique position to be a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Earth sciences. As one of the largest geoscience employers, the USGS wields significant community influence and has a responsibility to adopt and implement robust, unbiased policies so that the science it is charged to deliver is better connected to the...
Authors
Matthew Morriss, Eleanour Snow, Jennifer Miselis, William F. Waite, Katherine Barnhart, Andria P. Ellis, Liv Herdman, Seth C. Moran, Annie Putman, Nadine Reitman, Wendy Stovall, Meagan Eagle, Stephen Phillips
Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence produced > 500 km of surface rupture primarily on the left‐lateral East Anatolian (~345 km) and Çardak (~175 km) faults. Constraining the length and magnitude of surface displacement on the causative faults is critical for loss estimates, recovery efforts, rapid identification of impacted infrastructure, and fault
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, William Barnhart, Alexandra Hatem, Jessica Jobe, Christopher DuRoss, Ryan Gold, John Mejstrik, Camille Collett, Richard Koehler, Sinan Akciz
Rapid characterization of the February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, earthquake sequence Rapid characterization of the February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Mw 7.8 Pazarcık and subsequent Mw 7.5 Elbistan earthquakes generated strong ground shaking that resulted in catastrophic human and economic loss across south‐central Türkiye and northwest Syria. The rapid characterization of the earthquakes, including their location, size, fault geometries, and slip kinematics, is critical to estimate the impact of significant seismic...
Authors
Dara Goldberg, Tuncay Taymaz, Nadine Reitman, Alexandra Hatem, Seda Yolsal-Cevikbilen, William Barnhart, Tahir Irmak, David Wald, Taylan Ocalan, William Yeck, Berkan Ozkan, Jessica Jobe, David Shelly, Eric Thompson, Christopher DuRoss, Paul Earle, Richard Briggs, Harley Benz, Ceyhun Erman, Ali Dogan, Cemali Altuntas
Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting
Earthquakes on strike-slip faults are preserved in the geomorphic record by offset landforms that span a range of displacements, from small offsets created in the most recent earthquake (MRE) to large offsets that record cumulative slip from multiple prior events. An exponential decay in the number of large cumulative offsets has been observed on many faults, and a leading hypothesis is...
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Yann Klinger, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold
Revised earthquake geology inputs for the central and eastern United States and southeast Canada for the 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model Revised earthquake geology inputs for the central and eastern United States and southeast Canada for the 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model
It has been nearly a decade since updates to seismic and fault sources in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) were last assessed for the 2012 Central and Eastern United States Seismic Source Characterization for nuclear facilities (CEUS-SSCn) and 2014 United States Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for the conterminous U.S. In advance of the 2023 NSHM update...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Alexandra Hatem, Ryan Gold, Christopher DuRoss, Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, Camille Collett
Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023 Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023
Fault geometry and slip rates are key input data for geologic deformation models, which are a fundamental component of probabilistic seismic hazard analyses (PSHAs). However, geologic sources for PSHA have traditionally been limited to faults with field‐based slip rate constraints, which results in underrepresentation of known, but partially characterized, active faults. Here, we...
Authors
Alexandra Hatem, Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold, Jessica Jobe, Reed J. Burgette
How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)? How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)?
We excavated trenches at two paleoseismic sites bounding a trans-basin bedrock ridge (the Willow Creek Hills) along the northern Lost River fault zone to explore the uniqueness of the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake compared to its prehistoric predecessors. At the Sheep Creek site on the southernmost Warm Springs section, two earthquakes occurred at 9.8−14.0 ka (95% confidence) and 6.5...
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold, Alexandra Hatem, Austin Elliott, Jaime Delano, Ivan Medina-Cascales, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon Mahan, Sylvia Nicovich, Zachery Lifton, Emily Kleber, Greg McDonald, Adam Hiscock, Mike Bunds, Nadine Reitman
Non-USGS Publications**
Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2021) Strain and velocity across the Great Basin derived from 15-ka fault slip rates: Implications for continuous deformation and seismic hazards in the Walker Lane, California-Nevada, USA. Tectonics. doi: 10.1029/2020TC006389
Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2020) Input parameters, output data, and script to calculate strain and velocity from fault source parameters. [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3895334
Reitman, N.G., K.J. Mueller, G.E. Tucker, R.D. Gold, R.W. Briggs, and K.R. Barnhart. (2019) Numerical model code and input files to run landscape evolution models with strike-slip faulting and measure channel offsets. [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3374026
Litchfield, N.J., K.J. Clark, U.A. Cochran, J. Mountjoy, C. Mueller, R. Morgenstern, K.R. Berryman, B.G. McFadgen, R. Steele, N.G. Reitman, J. Howarth, and P. Villamor. (2020) Unraveling complex coastal deformation mechanisms using marine terrace paleoseismology Puatai Beach and Pakarae River mouth, northern Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. doi: 10.1785/0120190208
Reitman, N.G., Ge, S., and Mueller, K. (2014) Groundwater flow and its effect on salt dissolution in Gypsum Canyon watershed, Paradox Basin, southeast Utah, USA. Hydrogeology Journal, doi: 10.1007/s10040-014-1126-0.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
How Big and How Frequent Are Earthquakes on the Wasatch Fault?
Release Date: FEBRUARY 1, 2015 Paleoseismology along the Wasatch Fault in Utah is helping to estimate the shaking risk to nearby towns.
Filter Total Items: 15
Digital elevation models, orthophotos, and differencing results to analyze the effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high-resolution satellite optical imagery Digital elevation models, orthophotos, and differencing results to analyze the effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high-resolution satellite optical imagery
Synthetic earthquake deformation was imposed on high resolution (~0.5 m/pixel)orthoimagery and digital elevation models (DEMs) for two regions of the Garlock fault in the east and west. This repository contains the input and result rasters for the analysis, further described in Hanagan et al. (2025): "Effect of land cover type on 3D deformation recovery from synthetically deformed high...
Detailed Mapping of the 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake Surface Rupture (Idaho, USA) Using a High-Resolution Digital Terrain Model Derived from 2019 Lidar Data Detailed Mapping of the 1983 Borah Peak Earthquake Surface Rupture (Idaho, USA) Using a High-Resolution Digital Terrain Model Derived from 2019 Lidar Data
In this work, we refined and expanded the coseismic surface rupture map of the 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake coseismic rupture mapping at a scale of 1:500. While earlier work (DuRoss et al., 2019; Bello et al., 2020, 2021) used structure-from-motion (SfM) methods to construct digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS or drone) imagery, the...
Datasets documenting Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record Datasets documenting Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record
This data release provides input data and landscape evolution modeling results to accompany the manuscript “Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record" (Thompson Jobe and Reitman, 2025). The data release includes two tabular datasets, a text file, and movies of the landscape...
Digital Surface Model of the Lost River Fault, Idaho, from 1966 Aerial Photographs Digital Surface Model of the Lost River Fault, Idaho, from 1966 Aerial Photographs
This data release contains a point cloud and raster image of a digital surface model (DSM) that covers a portion of the Lost River fault in Idaho that ruptured in the 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake. The DSM provides a high-resolution, pre-earthquake record of the landscape from 1966. It is constructed using structure-from-motion photogrammetry software and aerial photographs taken in...
Computational notebook to plot offset measurements along strike-slip faults Computational notebook to plot offset measurements along strike-slip faults
Summary: This computational notebook is intended to visualize any dataset of offset measurements along a fault, including datasets for single or multiple earthquakes. It is used to plot recent, geomorphic, and synthetic offset measurements for the companion manuscript: Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record by N.G. Reitman, Y. Klinger, R. Briggs...
Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (central and eastern United States), version 1.0 Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (central and eastern United States), version 1.0
This Data Release contains three related databases for the Central and Eastern United States: 1) A fault sections database ("NSHM2023_FaultSections_CEUS_v1"), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, 2) A fault zone polygon database ("NSHM2023_FaultPolygons_CEUS_v1"), which depicts the geometry of distributed fault zones capable of hosting repeated...
Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2025 (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), version 1.0 Earthquake geology inputs for the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2025 (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), version 1.0
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of three related geologic input databases for the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) region (62°–70° W and 16°–21° N) of the United States: 1) A fault sections database (“NSHM2025_FaultSections_PRVI_v1’”), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, 2) a fault-zone polygon database ("NSHM2025...
Quaternary fault mapping of the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone from high-resolution 3DEP topography Quaternary fault mapping of the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone from high-resolution 3DEP topography
This data release contains a dataset that depicts fault scarps along the Zapata and Blanca sections of the Sangre de Cristo fault zone located in the San Luis basin of southern Colorado. The Zapata and Blanca sections extend from the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve to the Blanca Peak massif and are differentiated by a sharp change in fault zone orientation from north-south to...
UAV imagery and digital elevation data for the debris slide in Chaos Canyon, 28 June 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. UAV imagery and digital elevation data for the debris slide in Chaos Canyon, 28 June 2022, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
This dataset contains a point cloud (HalletPeak_PointCloud.las), digital elevation model (HalletPeak_DEM.tif), and orthoimagery (HalletPeak_Ortho.tif) of a debris slide originating on the southeast flank of Hallett Peak and sliding into Upper Chaos Canyon in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. The slide occurred on 28 June 2022, and imagery was obtained on 15 July 2022. These...
Fault Rupture Mapping of the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, Earthquake Sequence from Satellite Data (ver. 1.1, February 2024) Fault Rupture Mapping of the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, Earthquake Sequence from Satellite Data (ver. 1.1, February 2024)
This data release contains two datasets that depict fault rupture on the East Anatolian and Çardak faults resulting from the Mw7.8 and Mw7.5 earthquakes in Turkey (Türkiye). It contains two additional datasets that describe satellite imagery coverage and observation gaps. The 6 February 2023 earthquake sequence caused >500 km of combined surface rupture on the primarily left-lateral...
Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023, version 1.0 Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023, version 1.0
The U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) relies on deformation models to assign slip rates along active faults used in the earthquake rupture forecast. Here, we present the geologic deformation model results in tabular form. We provide model outputs in multiple file formats, as well as the polygons used in analyses throughout the geologic deformation model process.The data presented...
Strike-slip in transtension: Complex crustal architecture of the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane Strike-slip in transtension: Complex crustal architecture of the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane
This data release contains field data for two P-wave seismic reflection profiles acquired across the Warm Springs Valley fault zone, part of the Northern Walker Lane, NV. The dataset consists of high-resolution seismic reflection field records in .segy format, shot coordinates in .csv format, and observers? logs in .pdf format. The high-resolution seismic profiles are approximately 4 km...
Filter Total Items: 25
Ultralong, supershear rupture of the 2025 Mw 7.7 Mandalay earthquake reveals unaccounted risk Ultralong, supershear rupture of the 2025 Mw 7.7 Mandalay earthquake reveals unaccounted risk
The 28 March 2025 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.7 earthquake in Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), ruptured 475 kilometers of the Sagaing Fault, which was more than twice the length predicted by magnitude scaling relationships. Kinematic slip models and observation of a Rayleigh Mach wave that passed through parts of Thailand confirmed that rupture occurred at supershear velocities of greater than 5...
Authors
Dara Goldberg, William Yeck, Catherine Elise Hanagan, James Atterholt, Haiyang Kehoe, Nadine Reitman, William Barnhart, David Shelly, Alexandra Hatem, David Wald, Paul Earle
Unveiling coseismic deformation from differenced legacy aerial photography and modern lidar topography: The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake, Idaho, USA Unveiling coseismic deformation from differenced legacy aerial photography and modern lidar topography: The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake, Idaho, USA
The 1983 M6.9 Borah Peak, Idaho, earthquake is one of the largest historical normal fault earthquakes in the western United States. We quantified meter-scale vertical change along the 35 km-long rupture using topographic differencing of 1966 aerial imagery and 2019 lidar-derived data. The initial differencing results are largely obscured by horizontal and vertical georeferencing errors...
Authors
Chelsea Scott, Nadine Reitman, Simone Bello
Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record Timescales of surface faulting preservation in low-strain intraplate regions from landscape evolution modeling and the geomorphic and historical record
Large surface-rupturing intraplate earthquakes in stable continental regions (SCRs) are uncommon globally and have recurrence intervals of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years based on the paleoseismic and geomorphic record, challenging accurate active fault identification in these regions. To constrain the timescales of preservation for scarps created by surface ruptures from dip...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Nadine Reitman
Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record Limited preservation of strike-slip surface displacement in the geomorphic record
Offset geomorphic markers are commonly used to interpret slip history of strike-slip faults and have played an important role in forming earthquake recurrence models. These data sets are typically analyzed using cumulative probability methods to interpret average amounts of slip in past earthquakes. However, interpretation of the geomorphic record to infer surface slip history is...
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Yann Klinger, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold
Geologic input databases for the 2025 Puerto Rico – U.S. Virgin Islands National Seismic Hazard Model update: Crustal faults component Geologic input databases for the 2025 Puerto Rico – U.S. Virgin Islands National Seismic Hazard Model update: Crustal faults component
The last National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (PRVI) was published in 2003. In advance of the 2025 PRVI NSHM update, we created three geologic input databases to summarize new onshore and offshore fault source information in the northern Caribbean region between 62°–70° W and 16°–21° N. These databases, of fault sections, fault‐zone polygons...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Richard Briggs, Uri ten Brink, Thomas Pratt, K. Hughes, Alexandra Hatem, Christopher DuRoss, Nadine Reitman, Julie Herrick, Sylvia Nicovich, Camille Collett, Katherine M. Scharer, Stephen DeLong
Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE): Summary of U.S. Geological Survey URGE pod deliverables Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE): Summary of U.S. Geological Survey URGE pod deliverables
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is in a unique position to be a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the Earth sciences. As one of the largest geoscience employers, the USGS wields significant community influence and has a responsibility to adopt and implement robust, unbiased policies so that the science it is charged to deliver is better connected to the...
Authors
Matthew Morriss, Eleanour Snow, Jennifer Miselis, William F. Waite, Katherine Barnhart, Andria P. Ellis, Liv Herdman, Seth C. Moran, Annie Putman, Nadine Reitman, Wendy Stovall, Meagan Eagle, Stephen Phillips
Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence Rapid surface rupture mapping from satellite data: The 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), earthquake sequence produced > 500 km of surface rupture primarily on the left‐lateral East Anatolian (~345 km) and Çardak (~175 km) faults. Constraining the length and magnitude of surface displacement on the causative faults is critical for loss estimates, recovery efforts, rapid identification of impacted infrastructure, and fault
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, William Barnhart, Alexandra Hatem, Jessica Jobe, Christopher DuRoss, Ryan Gold, John Mejstrik, Camille Collett, Richard Koehler, Sinan Akciz
Rapid characterization of the February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, earthquake sequence Rapid characterization of the February 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, earthquake sequence
The 6 February 2023 Mw 7.8 Pazarcık and subsequent Mw 7.5 Elbistan earthquakes generated strong ground shaking that resulted in catastrophic human and economic loss across south‐central Türkiye and northwest Syria. The rapid characterization of the earthquakes, including their location, size, fault geometries, and slip kinematics, is critical to estimate the impact of significant seismic...
Authors
Dara Goldberg, Tuncay Taymaz, Nadine Reitman, Alexandra Hatem, Seda Yolsal-Cevikbilen, William Barnhart, Tahir Irmak, David Wald, Taylan Ocalan, William Yeck, Berkan Ozkan, Jessica Jobe, David Shelly, Eric Thompson, Christopher DuRoss, Paul Earle, Richard Briggs, Harley Benz, Ceyhun Erman, Ali Dogan, Cemali Altuntas
Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting Climatic influence on the expression of strike-slip faulting
Earthquakes on strike-slip faults are preserved in the geomorphic record by offset landforms that span a range of displacements, from small offsets created in the most recent earthquake (MRE) to large offsets that record cumulative slip from multiple prior events. An exponential decay in the number of large cumulative offsets has been observed on many faults, and a leading hypothesis is...
Authors
Nadine Reitman, Yann Klinger, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold
Revised earthquake geology inputs for the central and eastern United States and southeast Canada for the 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model Revised earthquake geology inputs for the central and eastern United States and southeast Canada for the 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model
It has been nearly a decade since updates to seismic and fault sources in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) were last assessed for the 2012 Central and Eastern United States Seismic Source Characterization for nuclear facilities (CEUS-SSCn) and 2014 United States Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) for the conterminous U.S. In advance of the 2023 NSHM update...
Authors
Jessica Jobe, Alexandra Hatem, Ryan Gold, Christopher DuRoss, Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, Camille Collett
Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023 Western U.S. geologic deformation model for use in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023
Fault geometry and slip rates are key input data for geologic deformation models, which are a fundamental component of probabilistic seismic hazard analyses (PSHAs). However, geologic sources for PSHA have traditionally been limited to faults with field‐based slip rate constraints, which results in underrepresentation of known, but partially characterized, active faults. Here, we...
Authors
Alexandra Hatem, Nadine Reitman, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold, Jessica Jobe, Reed J. Burgette
How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)? How similar was the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake rupture to its surface-faulting predecessors along the northern Lost River fault zone (Idaho, USA)?
We excavated trenches at two paleoseismic sites bounding a trans-basin bedrock ridge (the Willow Creek Hills) along the northern Lost River fault zone to explore the uniqueness of the 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake compared to its prehistoric predecessors. At the Sheep Creek site on the southernmost Warm Springs section, two earthquakes occurred at 9.8−14.0 ka (95% confidence) and 6.5...
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Richard Briggs, Ryan Gold, Alexandra Hatem, Austin Elliott, Jaime Delano, Ivan Medina-Cascales, Harrison J. Gray, Shannon Mahan, Sylvia Nicovich, Zachery Lifton, Emily Kleber, Greg McDonald, Adam Hiscock, Mike Bunds, Nadine Reitman
Non-USGS Publications**
Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2021) Strain and velocity across the Great Basin derived from 15-ka fault slip rates: Implications for continuous deformation and seismic hazards in the Walker Lane, California-Nevada, USA. Tectonics. doi: 10.1029/2020TC006389
Reitman, N.G. and P. Molnar (2020) Input parameters, output data, and script to calculate strain and velocity from fault source parameters. [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3895334
Reitman, N.G., K.J. Mueller, G.E. Tucker, R.D. Gold, R.W. Briggs, and K.R. Barnhart. (2019) Numerical model code and input files to run landscape evolution models with strike-slip faulting and measure channel offsets. [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3374026
Litchfield, N.J., K.J. Clark, U.A. Cochran, J. Mountjoy, C. Mueller, R. Morgenstern, K.R. Berryman, B.G. McFadgen, R. Steele, N.G. Reitman, J. Howarth, and P. Villamor. (2020) Unraveling complex coastal deformation mechanisms using marine terrace paleoseismology Puatai Beach and Pakarae River mouth, northern Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. doi: 10.1785/0120190208
Reitman, N.G., Ge, S., and Mueller, K. (2014) Groundwater flow and its effect on salt dissolution in Gypsum Canyon watershed, Paradox Basin, southeast Utah, USA. Hydrogeology Journal, doi: 10.1007/s10040-014-1126-0.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.