Publications
Filter Total Items: 2186
Interrelations among the soil-water retention, hydraulic conductivity, and suction-stress characteristic curves
The three fundamental constitutive relations that describe fluid flow, strength, and deformation behavior of variably saturated soils are the soil-water retention curve (SWRC), hydraulic conductivity function (HCF), and suction-stress characteristic curve (SSCC). Until recently, the interrelations among the SWRC, HCF, and SSCC have not been well established. This work sought experimental confirmat
Authors
Ning Lu, Murat Kaya, Jonathan W. Godt
Annual and seasonal distribution of intertidal foraminifera and stable carbon isotope geochemistry, Bandon Marsh, Oregon, USA
We investigated the influence of inter-annual and seasonal differences on the distribution of live and dead foraminifera, and the inter-annual variability of stable carbon isotopes (d13C), total organic carbon (TOC) values and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios in bulk sediments from intertidal environments of Bandon Marsh (Oregon, USA). Living and dead foraminiferal species from 10 stations were ana
Authors
Yvonne Milker, Benjamin Horton, Christopher Vane, Simon Engelhart, Alan R. Nelson, Robert C. Witter, Nicole S. Khan, William Bridgeland
Holocene and latest Pleistocene paleoseismology of the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, at the Penrose Drive Trench Site
The Salt Lake City segment (SLCS) of the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ) and the West Valley fault zone (WVFZ) compromise Holocene-active normal faults that bound a large intrabasin graben in northern Salt Lake Valley and have evidence of recurrent, large-magnitude (M ~6-7) surface-faulting earthquakes. However, at the time of this investigation, questions remained regarding the timing, displacement, and
Authors
Christopher B. DuRoss, Michael D. Hylland, Greg N. McDonald, Anthony J. Crone, Stephen F. Personius, Ryan D. Gold, Shannon Mahan
Diverse rupture modes for surface-deforming upper plate earthquakes in the southern Puget Lowland of Washington State
Earthquake prehistory of the southern Puget Lowland, in the north-south compressive regime of the migrating Cascadia forearc, reflects diverse earthquake rupture modes with variable recurrence. Stratigraphy and Bayesian analyses of previously reported and new 14C ages in trenches and cores along backthrust scarps in the Seattle fault zone restrict a large earthquake to 1040–910 cal yr B.P. (2σ), a
Authors
Alan R. Nelson, Stephen F. Personius, Brian L. Sherrod, Harvey M. Kelsey, Samuel Y. Johnson, Lee-Ann Bradley, Ray E. Wells
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 system’s sl
Authors
Ryan D. Gold, Richard W. Briggs, Stephen Personius, Anthony J. Crone, Shannon A. Mahan, Stephen Angster
"Report a Landslide” A website to engage the public in identifying geologic hazards
Direct observation by people is the most practical way of identifying, locating, and describing most damaging landslides. In an effort to increase public awareness of landslide hazards and encourage public participation in collecting basic data about landslides, the USGS recently launched a website called “Report a landslide.” The website is modeled in part after the highly successful USGS website
Authors
Rex L. Baum, Lynn M. Highland, Peter T. Lyttle, Jeremy Fee, Eric Martinez, Lisa A. Wald
Plenary: Progress in Regional Landslide Hazard Assessment—Examples from the USA
Landslide hazard assessment at local and regional scales contributes to mitigation of landslides in developing and densely populated areas by providing information for (1) land development and redevelopment plans and regulations, (2) emergency preparedness plans, and (3) economic analysis to (a) set priorities for engineered mitigation projects and (b) define areas of similar levels of hazard for
Authors
Rex L. Baum, William Schulz, Dianne L. Brien, William J. Burns, Mark E. Reid, Jonathan W. Godt
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 multichanne
Authors
William J. Stephenson, Jackson K. Odum, Daniel E. McNamara, Robert A. Williams, Stephen J Angster
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 century or l
Authors
Anthony J. Crone, Stephen F. 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 parts of the
Authors
Edwin L. Harp, Stephen H. Hartzell, Randall W. Jibson, L. Ramirez-Guzman, Robert G. Schmitt
Estimating structural collapse fragility of generic building typologies using expert judgment
The structured expert elicitation process proposed by Cooke (1991),
hereafter referred to as Cooke’s approach, is applied for the first time
in the realm of structural collapse-fragility assessment for selected generic
construction types. Cooke’s approach works on the principle of objective
calibration scoring of judgments coupled with hypothesis testing used in classical
statistics. The perf
Authors
Kishor S. Jaiswal, D. J. Wald, D. Perkins, W. P. Aspinall, Anne S. Kiremidjian
Predicting the spatial extent of liquefaction from geospatial and earthquake specific parameters
The spatially extensive damage from the 2010-2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake events are a reminder of the need for liquefaction hazard maps for anticipating damage from future earthquakes. Liquefaction hazard mapping as traditionally relied on detailed geologic mapping and expensive site studies. These traditional techniques are difficult to apply globally for rapid response or loss esti
Authors
Jing Zhu, Laurie G. Baise, Eric M. Thompson, David J. Wald, Keith L. Knudsen