Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

Filter Total Items: 7238

Rapid Source Characterization of the 2023 Mw 6.8 Al Haouz, Morocco, Earthquake

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) estimates source characteristics of significant damaging earthquakes, aiming to place events within their seismotectonic framework. Contextualizing the 8 September 2023, Mw 6.8 Al Haouz, Morocco, earthquake is challenging, because it occurred in an enigmatic region of active surface faulting, and low seismicity yet pro
Authors
William L. Yeck, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Dara Elyse Goldberg, William D. Barnhart, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, David R. Shelly, Antonio Villasenor, Harley Benz, Paul S. Earle

Panel review of Ground Motion Characterization Model in 2023 NSHM

The 2023 National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM; Petersen et al., 2023) has two major components – a seismic source characterization (SSC) model and a ground motion characterization (GMC) model. The US Geological Survey (USGS) established separate panels to review and provide input on these two models. Both panels are advisory, meaning that they provide input on technical issues for consideration by
Authors
Jonathan P. Stewart, Norman A. Abrahamson, Gail M. Atkinson, John G. Anderson, Kenneth W. Campbell, Chris H. Cramer, Michael Kolaj, Grace Alexandra Parker

The lunar cratering chronology

This chapter provides an introduction to crater-size frequency distribution (CSFD) measurements and presents a review of the work performed on dating lunar geological units using CSFDs since the last New Views of the Moon volume (2006), including various volcanic and tectonic features, as well as individual impact craters. At the end of the chapter, implications for the new CSFD age determinations
Authors
Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn H. Van der Bogert, G. Michael, N. Schmedemann, W. Iqbal, Stuart J. Robbins, B. Ivanov, J.-P. Williams, M. Zanetti, J. Plescia, Lillian R. Ostrach, James W. Head III

Lunar mare basaltic volcanism: Volcanic features and emplacement processes

Volcanism is a fundamental process in the geological evolution of the Moon, providing clues to the composition and structure of the mantle, the location and duration of interior melting, the nature of convection and lunar thermal evolution. Progress in understanding volcanism has been remarkable in the short 60-year span of the Space Age. Before Sputnik 1 in 1957, the lunar farside was unknown, th
Authors
James W. Head III, Lionel Wilson, Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn H. Van der Bogert, Yuan Yuan Chen, James L. Dickson, Lisa Gaddis, Junichi Haruyama, Lauren Jozwiak, Erica Jawin, Chunlai Li, Jianzhong Liu, Tomokatsu Morota, Debra H. Needham, Lillian R. Ostrach, Carle M. Pieters, Tabb C. Prissel, Yuqi Qian, Lei Qiao, Malcolm R. Rutherford, David R. Scott, Jennifer L. Whitten, Long Xiao, Feng Zhang, Ouyang Ziyuan

Fractures, scarps, faults, and landslides mapped using LiDAR, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

This map of fractures, scarps, faults, and landslides was completed to identify areas in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve that may present a landslide-generated tsunami hazard. To address the potential of landslide and tsunami hazards in the park, the National Park Service (NPS) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) partnered to conduct a multi-year hazard assessment of Glacier Bay National Pa
Authors
Chad Hults, Jeffrey A. Coe, Nikita N. Avdievitch

Geoelectric field model validation in the southern California Edison system: Case study

Geomagnetic storms are a natural phenomenon that cause magnetic field variations at the surface of the Earth. These variations induce electrical current in natural and artificial conductors at and below the surface, resulting in geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in power systems. The key to modeling GIC is to estimate the geoelectric field in the region of the power grid. The estimation of GI
Authors
Christopher C. Balch, Chaoyang Jing, Anna Kelbert, Patricia Arons, Kevin Richardson

Global seismic networks operated by the U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global Seismographic Network (GSN) Program operates two thirds of the GSN, a network of state‐of‐the‐art, digital seismological and geophysical sensors with digital telecommunications. This network serves as a multiuse scientific facility and a valuable resource for research, education, and monitoring. The other one third of the GSN is funded by the National Scien
Authors
David C. Wilson, Charles R. Hutt, Lind Gee, Adam T. Ringler, Robert E. Anthony

Sediment thickness map of United States Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Strata, and their influence on earthquake ground motions

With the recent successful accounting of basin depth ground-motion adjustments in seismic hazard analyses for select areas of the western United States, we move toward implementing similar adjustments in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains by constructing a sediment thickness model and evaluating multiple relevant site amplification models for central and eastern United States seismic hazard anal
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd, David Churchwell, Morgan P. Moschetti, Eric M. Thompson, Martin C. Chapman, Okan Ilhan, Thomas L. Pratt, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Sanaz Rezaeian

Crustal block-controlled contrasts in deformation, uplift, and exhumation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, imaged through apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology and 3-D geological modeling

Deformation along strike-slip plate margins often accumulates within structurally partitioned and rheologically heterogeneous crustal blocks within the plate boundary. In these cases, contrasts in the physical properties and state of juxtaposed crustal blocks may play an important role in accommodation of deformation. Near the San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, the Pacific−North American pla
Authors
Curtis William Baden, David L. Shuster, Jeremy H. Hourigan, Jared T. Gooley, Melanie Cahill, George E. Hilley

Time-dependent weakening of granite at hydrothermal conditions

The evolution of a fault's frictional strength during the interseismic period is a critical component of the earthquake cycle, yet there have been relatively few studies that examine the time-dependent evolution of strength at conditions representative of seismogenic depths. Using a simulated fault in Westerly granite, we examined how frictional strength evolves under hydrothermal conditions up to
Authors
Tamara Nicole Jeppson, David A. Lockner, Nicholas M. Beeler, Diane E. Moore

Georeferencing of terrestrial radar images in geomonitoring using kernel correlation

Terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) provides accurate observations of displacements in the line-of-sight (LOS) direction and is therefore used in various monitoring applications. However, relating these displacements directly to the 3d world is challenging due to the particular imaging process. To address this, the radar results are projected onto a 3d model of the monitored area, requiring geo
Authors
Lorenz Schmid, Tomislav Medic, Brian D. Collins, Lorenz Meier, Andreas Wieser