Publications
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The 3D Elevation Program—Landslide recognition, hazard assessment, and mitigation support
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide Hazards Program conducts landslide hazard assessments, pursues landslide investigations and forecasts, provides technical assistance to respond to landslide emergencies, and engages in outreach. All of these activities benefit from the availability of high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) elevation information in the form of light detection and ranging
Authors
Vicki Lukas, William J. Carswell, Jr.
Integrating landslide and liquefaction hazard and loss estimates with existing USGS real-time earthquake information products
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has made significant progress toward the rapid estimation of shaking and shakingrelated losses through their Did You Feel It? (DYFI), ShakeMap, ShakeCast, and PAGER products. However, quantitative estimates of the extent and severity of secondary hazards (e.g., landsliding, liquefaction) are not currently included in scenarios and real-time post-earthquake product
Authors
Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Mike Hearne, M. Anna Nowicki Jessee, J. Zhu, David J. Wald, Hakan Tanyas
Apparent late Quaternary fault slip rate increase in the southwestern Lower Rhine Graben, central Europe
In regions of low strain, long earthquake recurrence intervals (104–106 yrs) and erosive processes limit preservation of Quaternary markers suitable for distinguishing whether faults slip at uniform or secularly varying rates. The Lower Rhine graben in the border region of Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium provides a unique opportunity to explore Quaternary slip‐rate variations in a region of
Authors
Ryan D. Gold, Anke M. Friedrich, Simon Kubler, Martin Salamon
Oklahoma experiences largest earthquake during ongoing regional wastewater injection hazard mitigation efforts
The 3 September 2016, Mw 5.8 Pawnee earthquake was the largest recorded earthquake in the state of Oklahoma. Seismic and geodetic observations of the Pawnee sequence, including precise hypocenter locations and moment tensor modeling, shows that the Pawnee earthquake occurred on a previously unknown left-lateral strike-slip basement fault that intersects the mapped right-lateral Labette fault zone.
Authors
William L. Yeck, Gavin P. Hayes, Daniel E. McNamara, Justin L. Rubinstein, William D. Barnhart, Paul S. Earle, Harley M. Benz
Tectonic summaries of magnitude 7 and greater earthquakes from 2000 to 2015
This paper describes the tectonic summaries for all magnitude 7 and larger earthquakes in the period 2000–2015, as produced by the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center during their routine response operations to global earthquakes. The goal of such summaries is to provide important event-specific information to the public rapidly and concisely, such that recent earthquakes
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes, Emma K. Meyers, James W. Dewey, Richard W. Briggs, Paul S. Earle, Harley M. Benz, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Hanna E. Flamme, William D. Barnhart, Ryan D. Gold, Kevin P. Furlong
Improvements in absolute seismometer sensitivity calibration using local earth gravity measurements
The ability to determine both absolute and relative seismic amplitudes is fundamentally limited by the accuracy and precision with which scientists are able to calibrate seismometer sensitivities and characterize their response. Currently, across the Global Seismic Network (GSN), errors in midband sensitivity exceed 3% at the 95% confidence interval and are the least‐constrained response parameter
Authors
Robert E. Anthony, Adam T. Ringler, David C. Wilson
Control of landslide volume and hazard by glacial stratigraphic architecture, Northwest Washington state, USA
Landslide volumes span many orders of magnitude, but large-volume slides tend to travel
farther and consequently can pose a greater hazard. In northwest Washington State, USA, a
landscape abounding with landslides big and small, the recent occurrence of the large-volume
and tragically deadly State Route 530 (Oso) landslide is a stark reminder of the hazards
associated with glacial terraces lining
Authors
Jonathan Perkins, Mark E. Reid, Kevin M. Schmidt
By
Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Landslide Hazards Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Amplification of earthquake ground motions in Washington, DC, and implications for hazard assessments in central and eastern North America
The extent of damage in Washington, DC, from the 2011 Mw 5.8 Mineral, VA, earthquake was surprising for an epicenter 130 km away; U.S. Geological Survey “Did-You-Feel-It” reports suggest that Atlantic Coastal Plain and other unconsolidated sediments amplified ground motions in the city. We measure this amplification relative to bedrock sites using earthquake signals recorded on a temporary seismom
Authors
Thomas L. Pratt, J. Wright Horton, Jessica Munoz, Susan E. Hough, Martin C. Chapman, C. Guney Olgun
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
Effects of topographic data quality on estimates of shallow slope stability using different regolith depth models
Thickness of colluvium or regolith overlying bedrock or other consolidated materials is a major factor in determining stability of unconsolidated earth materials on steep slopes. Many efforts to model spatially distributed slope stability, for example to assess susceptibility to shallow landslides, have relied on estimates of constant thickness, constant depth, or simple models of thickness (or de
Authors
Rex L. Baum
Reexamination of the magnitudes for the 1906 and 1922 Chilean earthquakes using Japanese tsunami amplitudes: Implications for source depth constraints
Far-field tsunami records from the Japanese tide gauge network allow the reexamination of the moment magnitudes (Mw) for the 1906 and 1922 Chilean earthquakes, which to date rely on limited information mainly from seismological observations alone. Tide gauges along the Japanese coast provide extensive records of tsunamis triggered by six great (Mw >8) Chilean earthquakes with instrumentally determ
Authors
M. Carvajal, M. Cisternas, A. Gubler, P. A. Catalan, P. Winckler, Robert L. Wesson
Extreme geomagnetic storms: Probabilistic forecasts and their uncertainties
Extreme space weather events are low-frequency, high-risk phenomena. Estimating their rates of occurrence, as well as their associated uncertainties, is difficult. In this study, we derive statistical estimates and uncertainties for the occurrence rate of an extreme geomagnetic storm on the scale of the Carrington event (or worse) occurring within the next decade. We model the distribution of even
Authors
Pete Riley, Jeffrey J. Love