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Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
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Development of a globally applicable model for near real-time prediction of seismically induced landslides
Substantial effort has been invested to understand where seismically induced landslides may occur in the future, as they are a costly and frequently fatal threat in mountainous regions. The goal of this work is to develop a statistical model for estimating the spatial distribution of landslides in near real-time around the globe for use in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey...
Authors
M. Anna Nowicki, David J. Wald, Michael W Hamburger, Mike Hearne, Eric M. Thompson
Key recovery factors for the August 24, 2014, South Napa Earthquake
Through discussions between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) following the South Napa earthquake, it was determined that several key decision points would be faced by FEMA for which additional information should be sought and provided by USGS and its partners. This report addresses the four tasks that were agreed to. These tasks are (1)...
Authors
Kenneth W. Hudnut, Thomas M. Brocher, Carol S. Prentice, John Boatwright, Benjamin A. Brooks, Brad T. Aagaard, J. Luke Blair, Jon Peter Fletcher, Jemile Erdem, Charles W. Wicks, Jessica R. Murray, Frederick Pollitz, John O. Langbein, Jerry L. Svarc, David P. Schwartz, Daniel J. Ponti, Suzanne Hecker, Stephen B. DeLong, Carla M. Rosa, Brenda Jones, Rynn M. Lamb, Anne M. Rosinski, Timothy P. McCrink, Timothy E. Dawson, Gordon G. Seitz, Craig L. Glennie, Darren L. Hauser, Todd Ericksen, Dan Mardock, Don F. Hoirup, Jonathan D. Bray, Ron S. Rubin
A continuous record of intereruption velocity change at Mount St. Helens from coda wave interferometry
In September 2004, Mount St. Helens volcano erupted after nearly 18 years of quiescence. However, it is unclear from the limited geophysical observations when or if the magma chamber replenished following the 1980–1986 eruptions in the years before the 2004–2008 extrusive eruption. We use coda wave interferometry with repeating earthquakes to measure small changes in the velocity...
Authors
Alicia J. Hotovec-Ellis, Joan S. Gomberg, John E. Vidale, Ken C. Creager
The 17 May 2012 M4.8 earthquake near Timpson, East Texas: An event possibly triggered by fluid injection
This study summarizes our investigation of the 17 May 2012 MW-RMT4.8 earthquake near Timpson, Texas, the largest earthquake recorded historically in eastern Texas. To identify preshocks and aftershocks of the 17 May event we examined the arrivals recorded at Nacogdoches (NATX) 30 km from the 17 May epicenter, at nearby USArray Transportable Array stations, and at eight temporary stations...
Authors
Cliff Frohlich, William L. Ellsworth, Wesley Brown, Michael Brunt, James H. Luetgert, Tim G. MacDonald, Steven Walters
Laboratory constraints on models of earthquake recurrence
In this study, rock friction ‘stick-slip’ experiments are used to develop constraints on models of earthquake recurrence. Constant-rate loading of bare rock surfaces in high quality experiments produces stick-slip recurrence that is periodic at least to second order. When the loading rate is varied, recurrence is approximately inversely proportional to loading rate. These laboratory...
Authors
Nicholas M. Beeler, Terry. E. Tullis, Jenni Junger, Brian D. Kilgore, David L. Goldsby
Stress-based aftershock forecasts made within 24h post mainshock: Expected north San Francisco Bay area seismicity changes after the 2014 M=6.0 West Napa earthquake
We calculate stress changes resulting from the M = 6.0 West Napa earthquake on north San Francisco Bay area faults. The earthquake ruptured within a series of long faults that pose significant hazard to the Bay area, and we are thus concerned with potential increases in the probability of a large earthquake through stress transfer. We conduct this exercise as a prospective test because...
Authors
Thomas E. Parsons, Margaret Segou, Volkan Sevilgen, Kevin R. Milner, Ned Field, Shinji Toda, Ross Stein
Late quaternary paleoseismology of the west valley fault zone: Insights from the Baileys Lake trench site
No abstract available.
Authors
Michael D. Hylland, Christopher DuRoss, Greg N. McDonald, Susan S. Olig, Charles Gifford Oviatt, Shannon A. Mahan, Anthony J. Crone, Stephen Personius
History of late Holocene earthquakes at the Willow Creek site on the Nephi segment, Wasatch fault zone, Utah
This 43-page report presents new data from the Willow Creek site that provides well-defined and narrow bounds on the times of the three youngest earthquakes on the southern strand of the Nephi segment, Wasatch Fault zone, and refines the time of the youngest earthquake to about 200 years ago. This is the youngest surface rupture on the entire Wasatch fault zone, which occurred about a...
Authors
Anthony J. Crone, Stephen Personius, Christopher DuRoss, Michael N Machette, Shannon A. Mahan
Relation of landslides triggered by the Kiholo Bay earthquake to modeled ground motion
The 2006 Kiholo Bay, Hawaii, earthquake triggered high concentrations of rock falls and slides in the steep canyons of the Kohala Mountains along the north coast of Hawaii. Within these mountains and canyons a complex distribution of landslides was triggered by the earthquake shaking. In parts of the area, landslides were preferentially located on east‐facing slopes, whereas in other...
Authors
Edwin Harp, Stephen H. Hartzell, Randall W. Jibson, Leonardo Ramirez-Guzman, Robert G. Schmitt
Latest Quaternary paleoseismology and evidence of distributed dextral shear along the Mohawk Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane, California
The dextral-slip Mohawk Valley fault zone (MVFZ) strikes northwestward along the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada in the northern Walker Lane. Geodetic block modeling indicates that the MVFZ may accommodate ~3 mm/yr of regional dextral strain, implying that it is the highest slip-rate strike-slip fault in the region; however, only limited geologic data are available to constrain the...
Authors
Ryan D. Gold, Richard W. Briggs, Stephen Personius, Anthony J. Crone, Shannon A. Mahan, Stephen J. Angster
CyberShake-derived ground-motion prediction models for the Los Angeles region with application to earthquake early warning
Real-time applications such as earthquake early warning (EEW) typically use empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) along with event magnitude and source-to-site distances to estimate expected shaking levels. In this simplified approach, effects due to finite-fault geometry, directivity and site and basin response are often generalized, which may lead to a significant under-...
Authors
Maren Böse, Robert Graves, David Gill, Scott Callaghan, Phillip J. Maechling
Ground-motion site effects from multimethod shear-wave velocity characterization at 16 seismograph stations deployed for aftershocks of the August 2011 Mineral, Virginia earthquake
We characterize shear-wave velocity versus depth (Vs profile) at 16 portable seismograph sites through the epicentral region of the 2011 Mw 5.8 Mineral (Virginia, USA) earthquake to investigate ground-motion site effects in the area. We used a multimethod acquisition and analysis approach, where active-source horizontal shear (SH) wave reflection and refraction as well as active-source...
Authors
William J. Stephenson, Jackson K. Odum, Daniel McNamara, Robert Williams, Stephen J. Angster