Publications
Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
Filter Total Items: 2573
Airborne hunt for faults in the Portland-Vancouver area
Geologic hazards in the Portland-Vancouver area include faults entirely hidden by river sediments, vegetation, and urban development. A recent aerial geophysical survey revealed patterns in the Earth's magnetic field that confirm the existence of a previously suspected fault running through Portland. It also indicated that this fault may pose a significant seismic threat. This discovery has enable
Authors
Richard J. Blakely, Ray E. Wells, Thomas S. Yelin, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley
Comparison and contrast of processes of soil formation in the San Timoteo Badlands with chronosequences in California
The degree of soil development associated with geomorphic surfaces in the San Timoteo Badlands area (STB), California allows correlation of the surfaces. Soil development indices, based on field descriptions and laboratory analysis, provide a basis for comparison of these soils to each other and to dated soil chronosequences at Cajon Pass, Merced, and Anza, California. The soils in this study reco
Authors
Katherine J. Kendrick, Leslie D. McFadden
Preliminary estimates of ground-motion amplification for the Northridge and Hyogo-ken Earthquakes of January 17, 1994 and 1995
No abstract available.
Authors
Roger D. Borcherdt
Seismology, geology, and geotechnical issues
The Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake of January 17, 1995 (5:46:52 JST) occurred in an area of complex faulting located near Awaji Island and the Hanshin area of Japan (34.607 N, 135.043 E, depth 14.3 km; Japan Meteorological Agency, JMA). The area which is near the urban centers of Kobe City and Osaka is located about 250 km from the Nankai trough, which forms the boundary between the Philippine S
Authors
Roger D. Borcherdt, Thomas L. Holzer
Intermediate‐depth intraslab earthquakes and arc volcanism as physical expressions of crustal and uppermost mantle metamorphism in subducting slabs
We elaborate on the well-known spatial association between axc volcanoes and Wadati Benioff zones and explore in detail their genetic relationships as dual physical expressions of slab metamorphism of the oceanic crust and uppermost mantle. At hypocentral depths less than 200 km intra slab Wadati-Benioff earthquakes tend to occur near the top surfaces of slabs. Subduction of very young lithosphere
Authors
Stephen H. Kirby, E. Robert Engdahl, Roger P. Denlinger
Quake Forecasting- An Emerging Capability
No abstract available.
Authors
Andrew Michael, Paul Reasenberg, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley
Damage and restoration of geodetic infrastructure caused by the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake
We seek to restore the integrity of the geodetic network in the San Fernando, Simi, Santa Clarita Valleys and in the northern Los Angeles Basin by remeasurement of the network and identification of BMs which experienced non-tectonic displacements associated with the Northridge earthquake. We then use the observed displacement of BMs in the network to portray or predict the permanent vertical and h
Authors
Kathleen M. Hodgkinson, Ross S. Stein, Kenneth W. Hudnut, Jay Satalich, John H. Richards
Earthquake technology fights crime
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey have adapted their methods for quickly finding the exact source of an earthquake to the problem of locating gunshots. On the basis of this work, a private company is now testing an automated gunshot-locating system in a San Francisco Bay area community. This system allows police to rapidly pinpoint and respond to illegal gunfire, helping to reduce crime i
Authors
John C. Lahr, Peter L. Ward, Peter H. Stauffer, James W. Hendley
Site-response maps for the Los Angeles region based on earthquake ground motions
Ground-motion records from aftershocks of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and main-shock records from the 1971 San Fernando, 1987 Whittier Narrows, 1991 Sierra Madre, and 1994 Northridge earthquakes are used to estimate site response in the urban Los Angeles, California, area. Two frequency bands are considered, 0.5-1.5 Hz and 2.0-6.0 Hz. Instrument characteristics prevented going to lower frequenc
Authors
Stephen H. Hartzell, Stephen C. Harmsen, Arthur D. Frankel, David L. Carver, Edward Cranswick, Mark E. Meremonte, John A. Michael
Database of potential sources for earthquakes larger than magnitude 6 in Northern California
The Northern California Earthquake Potential (NCEP) working group, composed of many contributors and reviewers in industry, academia and government, has pooled its collective expertise and knowledge of regional tectonics to identify potential sources of large earthquakes in northern California. We have created a map and database of active faults, both surficial and buried, that forms the basis for
Authors
Three-dimensional crustal structure of the southern Sierra Nevada from seismic fan profiles and gravity modeling
Traveltime data from the 1993 Southern Sierra Nevada Continental Dynamics seismic refraction experiment reveal low crustal velocities in the southern Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range province of California (6.0 to 6.6 km/s), as well as low upper mantle velocities (7.6 to 7.8 km/s). The crust thickens from southeast to northwest along the axis of the Sierra Nevada from 27 km in the Mojave Desert t
Authors
M.M. Fliedner, S. Ruppert, P.E. Malin, S. K. Park, G. Jiracek, R. A. Phinney, J.B. Saleeby, B. Wernicke, R. Clayton, Rebecca Hylton Keller, K. Miller, C. Jones, J. H. Luetgert, Walter D. Mooney, H. Oliver, S.L. Klemperer, G. A. Thompson
The Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake of October 17, 1989: Main shock characteristics
The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, Calif., earthquake (0004:15.2 G.m.t. October 18; lat 37.036º N., long 121.883º W.; 19-km depth) had a local magnitude (ML) of about 6.7, a surface-wave magnitude (MS) of 7.1, a seismic moment of 2.2x1019 N-m to 3.5x1019 N-m, a source duration of 6 to 15 s, and an average stress drop of at least 50 bars. Slip occurred on a dipping fault surface about 35 km long an
Authors
Paul A. Spudich, Gregory C. Beroza, George Choy, John Boatwright, Stephen H. Hartzell, Gordon L. Stewart, Carlos Mendoza, Stephen Horton, John G. Anderson, Andres J. Mendez, Hiroo Kanamori, Kenji Satake, Michael Lisowski, Mark Hunter Murray, Jerry L. Svarc, Grant Marshall, Ross S. Stein, Karen McNally, Gerald W. Simila, Judy G. Brown, J.L. Nabelek, Ze'ev Reches, Mark D. Zoback, Jamison Steidl, Ralph J. Archuleta, Aaron A. Velasco, Thorne Lay, Jiajun Zhang, David J. Wald, Donald V. Helmberger, Thomas H. Heaton, Chesley R. Williams, Paul Segall, Francis T. Wu, Mingdong Wu, J.W. Rudnicki