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Publications

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Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment including site effects for Evansville, Indiana, and the surrounding region

We provide a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for the Evansville, Indiana region incorporating information from new surficial geologic mapping efforts on the part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Kentucky and Indiana State Geological Surveys, as well as information on the thickness and properties of near surface soils and their associated uncertainties. The subsurface informatio
Authors
Jennifer S. Haase, Tim Bowling, Robert L. Nowack, Yoon S. Choi, Chris H. Cramer, Oliver S. Boyd, Robert A. Bauer

Coulomb 3.3 Graphic-rich deformation and stress-change software for earthquake, tectonic, and volcano research and teaching-user guide

Coulomb is intended both for publication-directed research and for college and graduate school classroom instruction. We believe that one learns best when one can see the most and can explore alternatives quickly. So the principal feature of Coulomb is ease of input, rapid interactive modification, and intuitive visualization of the results. The program has menus and check-items, and dialogue boxe

Authors
Shingi Toda, Ross S. Stein, Volkan Sevilgen, Jian Lin

Earthquake scenario ground motions for the urban area of Evansville, Indiana

The Wabash Valley seismic zone and the New Madrid seismic zone are the closest large earthquake source zones to Evansville, Indiana. The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, over 180 kilometers (km) from Evansville, produced ground motions with a Modified Mercalli Intensity of VII near Evansville, the highest intensity observed in Indiana. Liquefaction evidence has been documented less than 40 km
Authors
Jennifer S. Haase, Robert L. Nowack, Chris H. Cramer, Oliver S. Boyd, Robert A. Bauer

Site characterization and site response in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Waveform analysis of aftershocks of the Mw7.0 Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010 reveals amplification of ground motions at sites within the Cul de Sac valley in which Port-au-Prince is situated. Relative to ground motions recorded at a hard-rock reference site, peak acceleration values are amplified by a factor of approximately 1.8 at sites on low-lying Mio-Pliocene deposits in central Port-au-P
Authors
Susan E. Hough, Alan K. Yong, Jean Robert Altidor, Dieuseul Anglade, Douglas D. Given, Saint-Louis Mildor

Moment tensor inversions using strong motion waveforms of Taiwan TSMIP data, 1993–2009

Earthquake source parameters are important for earthquake studies and seismic hazard assessment. Moment tensors are among the most important earthquake source parameters, and are now routinely derived using modern broadband seismic networks around the world. Similar waveform inversion techniques can also apply to other available data, including strong-motion seismograms. Strong-motion waveforms ar
Authors
Kaiwen Chang, Wu-Cheng Chi, Yuancheng Gung, Douglas Dreger, William H. K. Lee, Hung-Chie Chiu

20 cool facts about the New Madrid Seismic Zone-Commemorating the bicentennial of the New Madrid earthquake sequence, December 1811-February 1812 [poster]

This poster summarizes a few of the more significant facts about the series of large earthquakes that struck the New Madrid seismic zone of southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, and adjacent parts of Tennessee and Kentucky from December 1811 to February 1812. Three earthquakes in this sequence had a magnitude (M) of 7.0 or greater. The first earthquake occurred on December 16, 1811, at 2:1
Authors
R. A. Williams, N.S. McCallister, R. L. Dart

Liquefaction hazard for the region of Evansville, Indiana

We calculated liquefaction potential index for a grid of sites in the Evansville, Indiana area for two scenario earthquakes-a magnitude 7.7 in the New Madrid seismic zone and a M6.8 in the Wabash Valley seismic zone. For the latter event, peak ground accelerations range from 0.13 gravity to 0.81 gravity, sufficiently high to be of concern for liquefaction. Recently acquired cone-penetrometer test
Authors
Jennifer S. Haase, Yoon S. Choi, Robert L. Nowack, Chris H. Cramer, Oliver S. Boyd, Robert A. Bauer

Site-specific seismic-hazard maps and deaggregation in the western United States using the NGA models for ground-motion prediction

The 2008 National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project (NSHMP) update for the conterminous United States employs several new ground-motion prediction equations which include modern empirical models of linear and nonlinear site response to local and regional earthquakes. The recent availability of attenuation functions incorporating site conditions via Vs30 values permits the calculation of site-specific
Authors
Stephen Harmsen

Seismic zonation of Port-Au-Prince using pixel- and object-based imaging analysis methods on ASTER GDEM

We report about a preliminary study to evaluate the use of semi-automated imaging analysis of remotely-sensed DEM and field geophysical measurements to develop a seismic-zonation map of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For in situ data, VS30 values are derived from the MASW technique deployed in and around the city. For satellite imagery, we use an ASTER GDEM of Hispaniola. We apply both pixel- and object-b
Authors
Alan Yong, Susan E. Hough, Brady R. Cox, Ellen M. Rathje, Jeff Bachhuber, Ranon Dulberg, David Hulslander, Lisa Christiansen, Michael J. Abrams

Estimating seismic site response in Christchurch City (New Zealand) from dense low-cost aftershock arrays

The Mw 7.1 September 2010 Darfield earthquake, New Zealand, produced widespread damage and liquefaction ~40 km from the epicentre in Christchurch city. It was followed by the even more destructive Mw 6.2 February 2011 Christchurch aftershock directly beneath the city’s southern suburbs. Seismic data recorded during the two large events suggest that site effects contributed to the variations in gro
Authors
Anna E. Kaiser, Rafael A. Benites, Angela Chung, A. John Haines, Elizabeth S. Cochran, Bill Fry

Human casualties in earthquakes: Modelling and mitigation

Earthquake risk modelling is needed for the planning of post-event emergency operations, for the development of insurance schemes, for the planning of mitigation measures in the existing building stock, and for the development of appropriate building regulations; in all of these applications estimates of casualty numbers are essential. But there are many questions about casualty estimation which a
Authors
R.J.S. Spence, E.K.M. So

Seismic calibration shots conducted in 2009 in the Imperial Valley, southern California, for the Salton Seismic Imaging Project (SSIP)

Rupture of the southern section of the San Andreas Fault, from the Coachella Valley to the Mojave Desert, is believed to be the greatest natural hazard facing California in the near future. With an estimated magnitude between 7.2 and 8.1, such an event would result in violent shaking, loss of life, and disruption of lifelines (freeways, aqueducts, power, petroleum, and communication lines) that wo
Authors
Janice Murphy, Mark Goldman, Gary Fuis, Michael Rymer, Robert Sickler, Summer Miller, Lesley Butcher, Jason Ricketts, Coyn Criley, Joann Stock, John Hole, Greg Chavez