Publications
Filter Total Items: 109
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide—U.S. Geological Survey subduction zone science plan
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information and tools to build resilience in communities exposed to subduction zone earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. Improving the application of USGS science to successfully reduce risk from these events relies on whole community efforts, with continuing partnerships among scientists and
Authors
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig, Barbara Bekins, Thomas M. Brocher, John Brock, Daniel S. Brothers, Jason D. Chaytor, Arthur Frankel, Eric L. Geist, Matthew M. Haney, Stephen H. Hickman, William S. Leith, Evelyn A. Roeloffs, William H. Schulz, Thomas W. Sisson, Kristi L. Wallace, Janet Watt, Anne M. Wein
Reducing risk where tectonic plates collide
Most of the world’s earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions are caused by the continuous motions of the many tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s outer shell. The most powerful of these natural hazards occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) “Reducing Risk Where Tectonic Plates Collide—A USGS P
Authors
Joan S. Gomberg, K. A. Ludwig
The finite, kinematic rupture properties of great-sized earthquakes since 1990
Here, I present a database of >160 finite fault models for all earthquakes of M 7.5 and above since 1990, created using a consistent modeling approach. The use of a common approach facilitates easier comparisons between models, and reduces uncertainties that arise when comparing models generated by different authors, data sets and modeling techniques.I use this database to verify published scaling
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes
The spatial distribution of earthquake stress rotations following large subduction zone earthquakes
Rotations of the principal stress axes due to great subduction zone earthquakes have been used to infer low differential stress and near-complete stress drop. The spatial distribution of coseismic and postseismic stress rotation as a function of depth and along-strike distance is explored for three recent M ≥ 8.8 subduction megathrust earthquakes. In the down-dip direction, the largest coseismic s
Authors
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: A case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
Tsunamis have the potential to cause considerable damage to communities along the U.S. Pacific Northwest coastline. As coastal communities expand over time, the potential societal impact of tsunami inundation changes. To understand how community exposure to tsunami hazards may change in coming decades, we projected future development (i.e. urban, residential, and rural), households, and residents
Authors
Benjamin M. Sleeter, Nathan J. Wood, Christopher E. Soulard, Tamara S. Wilson
Evidence for distributed clockwise rotation of the crust in the northwestern United States from fault geometries and focal mechanisms
Paleomagnetic and GPS data indicate that Washington and Oregon have rotated clockwise for the past 16 Myr. Late Cenozoic and Quaternary fault geometries, seismicity lineaments, and focal mechanisms provide evidence that this rotation is accommodated by north directed thrusting and right-lateral strike-slip faulting in Washington, and SW to W directed normal faulting and right-lateral strike-slip f
Authors
Thomas M. Brocher, Ray E. Wells, Andrew P. Lamb, Craig S. Weaver
Cascadia subduction tremor muted by crustal faults
Deep, episodic slow slip on the Cascadia subduction megathrust of western North America is accompanied by low-frequency tremor in a zone of high fluid pressure between 30 and 40 km depth. Tremor density (tremor epicenters per square kilometer) varies along strike, and lower tremor density statistically correlates with upper plate faults that accommodate northward motion and rotation of forearc blo
Authors
Ray Wells, Richard J. Blakely, Aaron G. Wech, Patricia A. McCrory, Andrew Michael
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Energy Resources Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Earthquake Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Subduction Zone Science
Regional patterns of Mesozoic-Cenozoic magmatism in western Alaska revealed by new U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages
In support of regional geologic framework studies, we obtained 50 new argon-40/argon-39 (40Ar/39Ar) ages and 33 new uranium-lead (U-Pb) ages from igneous rocks of southwestern Alaska. Most of the samples are from the Sleetmute and Taylor Mountains quadrangles; smaller collections or individual samples are from the Bethel, Candle, Dillingham, Goodnews Bay, Holy Cross, Iditarod, Kantishna River, Lak
Authors
Dwight C. Bradley, Marti L. Miller, Richard M. Friedman, Paul W. Layer, Heather A. Bleick, James V. Jones, Steven E. Box, Susan M. Karl, Nora B. Shew, Timothy S. White, Alison B. Till, Julie A. Dumoulin, Thomas K. Bundtzen, Paul B. O'Sullivan, Thomas D. Ullrich
Unusual geologic evidence of coeval seismic shaking and tsunamis shows variability in earthquake size and recurrence in the area of the giant 1960 Chile earthquake
An uncommon coastal sedimentary record combines evidence for seismic shaking and coincident tsunami inundation since AD 1000 in the region of the largest earthquake recorded instrumentally: the giant 1960 southern Chile earthquake (Mw 9.5). The record reveals significant variability in the size and recurrence of megathrust earthquakes and ensuing tsunamis along this part of the Nazca-South America
Authors
M. Cisternas, E Garrett, Robert L. Wesson, T. Dura, L. L Ely
Paleoseismic potential of sublacustrine landslide records in a high-seismicity setting (south-central Alaska)
Sublacustrine landslide stratigraphy is considered useful for quantitative paleoseismology in low-seismicity settings. However, as the recharging of underwater slopes with sediments is one of the factors that governs the recurrence of slope failures, it is not clear if landslide deposits can provide continuous paleoseismic records in settings of frequent strong shaking. To test this, we selected t
Authors
Nore Praet, Jasper Moernaut, Maarten Van Daele, Evelien Boes, Peter J. Haeussler, Michael Strupler, Sabine Schmidt, Michael G. Loso, Marc De Batist
Geology of Seattle, a field trip
Seattle’s geologic record begins with Eocene deposition of fluvial arkosic sandstone and associated volcanic rocks of the Puget Group, perhaps during a time of regional strike-slip faulting, followed by late Eocene and Oligocene marine deposition of the Blakeley Formation in the Cascadia forearc. Older Quaternary deposits are locally exposed.Most of the city is underlain by up to 100 m of glacial
Authors
Ralph A. Haugerud, Kathy Goetz Troost, William T. Laprade
A 600-year-long stratigraphic record of tsunamis in south-central Chile
The stratigraphy within coastal river valleys in south-central Chile clarifies and extends the region’s history of large, earthquakes and accompanying tsunamis. Our site at Quidico (38.1°S, 73.3°W) is located in an overlap zone between ruptures of magnitude 8–9 earthquakes in 1960 and 2010, and, therefore, records tsunamis originating from subduction-zone ruptures north and south of the city of Co
Authors
Isabel Hong, Tina Dura, Lisa L. Ely, Benajamin P. Horton, Alan R. Nelson, Marco Cisternas, Daria Nikitina, Robert L. Wesson