Publications

Okmok volcano is an active volcanic caldera located on the northeastern portion of Umnak Island in the Aleutian arc, with recent eruptions in 1997 and 2008. The Okmok area had ~900 locatable earthquakes between 2003 and June 2008, and an additional ~600 earthquakes from the beginning of the 2008 eruption to mid 2009, providing an adequate dataset for seismic tomography. To image the...

A statewide assessment for geological evidence of tsunamis, primarily from distant-source events, found tsunami deposits at several locations, though evidence was absent at most locations evaluated. Several historical distant-source tsunamis, including the 1946 Aleutian, 1960 Chile, and 1964 Alaska events, caused inundation along portions of the northern and central California coast...

The computation of quasi-static deformation for axisymmetric viscoelastic structures on a gravitating spherical earth is addressed using the spectral element method (SEM). A 2-D spectral element domain is defined with respect to spherical coordinates of radius and angular distance from a pole of symmetry, and 3-D viscoelastic structure is assumed to be azimuthally symmetric with respect...

Computation of probabilistic earthquake hazard requires an estimate of Mmax, the maximum earthquake magnitude thought to be possible within a specified geographic region. This report is Part A of an Open-File Report that describes the construction of a global catalog of moderate to large earthquakes, from which one can estimate Mmax for most of the Central and Eastern United States and...

This Unified Facility Criteria (UFC) provides requirements for structures designed and constructed for the Department of Defense (DoD). These technical requirements are based on the 2012 International Building Code (IBC 2012), as modified by UFC 1-200- 01. This information shall be used by structural engineers to develop design calculations, specifications, plans, and design-build...

Eruptive activity returned to the summit region of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i with the formation of the “Overlook crater” within the Halema'uma'u Crater in March 2008. The new crater continued to grow through episodic collapse of the crater walls and as of late 2013 had grown into an approximately elliptical opening with dimensions of ~ 160 × 215 m extending to a depth of ~ 200 m...

Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) systems can provide as much as tens of seconds of warning to people and automated systems before strong shaking arrives. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners are developing such an EEW system, called ShakeAlert, for the West Coast of the United States. This document describes the technical implementation of that system, which...

Surface and laboratory Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) measurements combined with transient electromagnetic (TEM) data are powerful tools for subsurface water detection. Surface NMR (sNMR) and TEM soundings, laboratory NMR, complex resistivity, and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were all conducted to characterise the distribution of water within Sherman Crater on Mt. Baker, WA. Clay...

Processes, environments, and the energy associated with the transport and deposition of sand at Gusev Crater are characterized at the microscopic scale through the comparison of statistical moments for particle size and shape distributions. Bivariate and factor analyses define distinct textural groups at 51 sites along the traverse completed by the Spirit rover as it crossed the plains...

The 2014 National Seismic Hazard Maps for the conterminous United States incorporate additional uncertainty in fault slip-rate parameter that controls the earthquake-activity rates than was applied in previous versions of the hazard maps. This additional uncertainty is accounted for by new geodesy- and geology-based slip-rate models for the Western United States. Models that were...

A new global geologic map of Mars has been completed in a digital, geographic information system (GIS) format using geospatially controlled altimetry and image data sets. The map reconstructs the geologic history of Mars, which includes many new findings collated in the quarter century since the previous, Viking-based global maps were published, as well as other discoveries that were...

Explosive eruptions can severely disturb landscapes downwind or downstream of volcanoes by damaging vegetation and depositing large volumes of erodible fragmental material. As a result, fluxes of water and sediment in affected drainage basins can increase dramatically. System-disturbing processes associated with explosive eruptions include tephra fall, pyroclastic density currents...