Publications
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Testing geomorphology-derived rupture histories against the paleoseismic record of the southern San Andreas fault
Evidence for the 340-km-long Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857 is found at each of the high-resolution paleoseismic sites on the southern San Andreas Fault. Using trenching data from these sites, we find that the assemblage of dated paleoearthquakes recurs quasi-periodically (coefficient of variation, COV, of 0.6, Biasi, 2013) and requires ~80% of ruptures were shorter than the 1857 rupture with an av
Authors
Katherine M. Scharer, Ray J. Weldon, Sean Bemis
Does paleoseismology forecast the historic rates of large earthquakes on the San Andreas fault system?
The 98-year open interval since the most recent ground-rupturing earthquake in the greater San Andreas boundary fault system would not be predicted by the quasi-periodic recurrence statistics from paleoseismic data. We examine whether the current hiatus could be explained by uncertainties in earthquake dating. Using seven independent paleoseismic records, 100 year intervals may have occurred circ
Authors
Glenn Biasi, Katherine M. Scharer, Ray J. Weldon, Timothy E. Dawson
A possible source mechanism of the 1946 Unimak Alaska far-field tsunami, uplift of the mid-slope terrace above a splay fault zone
In 1946, megathrust seismicity along the Unimak segment of the Alaska subduction zone generated the largest ever recorded Alaska/Aleutian tsunami. The tsunami severely damaged Pacific islands and coastal areas from Alaska to Antarctica. It is the charter member of “tsunami” earthquakes that produce outsized far-field tsunamis for the recorded magnitude. Its source mechanisms were unconstrained by
Authors
Roland E. von Huene, John J. Miller, Dirk Klaeschen, Peter Dartnell
Earthquake source properties from pseudotachylite
The motions radiated from an earthquake contain information that can be interpreted as displacements within the source and therefore related to stress drop. Except in a few notable cases, the source displacements can neither be easily related to the absolute stress level or fault strength, nor attributed to a particular physical mechanism. In contrast paleo-earthquakes recorded by exhumed pseudota
Authors
Nicholas M. Beeler, Giulio Di Toro, Stefan Nielsen
Annualized earthquake loss estimates for California and their sensitivity to site amplification
Input datasets for annualized earthquake loss (AEL) estimation for California were updated recently by the scientific community, and include the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), site‐response model, and estimates of shear‐wave velocity. Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s loss estimation tool, Hazus, was updated to include the most recent census and economic exposure data.
Authors
Rui Chen, Kishor S. Jaiswal, D Bausch, H Seligson, C.J. Wills
Computing spatial correlation of ground motion intensities for ShakeMap
Modeling the spatial correlation of ground motion residuals, caused by
coherent contributions from source, path, and site, can provide valuable loss
and hazard information, as well as a more realistic depiction of ground motion
intensities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) software package, ShakeMap,
utilizes a deterministic empirical approach to estimate median ground shaking
in conjunction
Authors
Sarah Verros, David J. Wald, Charles Worden, Mike Hearne, Mahadevan Ganesh
A rare moderate‐sized (Mw 4.9) earthquake in Kansas: Rupture process of the Milan, Kansas, earthquake of 12 November 2014 and its relationship to fluid injection
The largest recorded earthquake in Kansas occurred northeast of Milan on 12 November 2014 (Mw 4.9) in a region previously devoid of significant seismic activity. Applying multistation processing to data from local stations, we are able to detail the rupture process and rupture geometry of the mainshock, identify the causative fault plane, and delineate the expansion and extent of the subsequent se
Authors
George Choy, Justin L. Rubinstein, William L. Yeck, Daniel E. McNamara, Charles Mueller, Oliver S. Boyd
St. Louis area earthquake hazards mapping project; seismic and liquefaction hazard maps
We present probabilistic and deterministic seismic and liquefaction hazard maps for the densely populated St. Louis metropolitan area that account for the expected effects of surficial geology on earthquake ground shaking. Hazard calculations were based on a map grid of 0.005°, or about every 500 m, and are thus higher in resolution than any earlier studies. To estimate ground motions at the surfa
Authors
Chris H. Cramer, Robert A. Bauer, Jae-won Chung, David Rogers, Larry Pierce, Vicki Voigt, Brad Mitchell, David Gaunt, Robert Williams, David Hoffman, Gregory L. Hempen, Phyllis Steckel, Oliver S. Boyd, Connor M. Watkins, Kathleen Tucker, Natasha McCallister
Responses of a tall building with U.S. code-type instrumentation in Tokyo, Japan, to events before, during and after the Tohoku earthquake of 11 March 2011
The 11 March 2011 M 9.0 Tohoku earthquake generated long-duration shaking that propagated hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter and affected tall buildings in urban areas several hundred kilometers from the epicenter of the main shock. Recorded responses show that tall buildings were affected by long-period motions. This study presents the behavior and performance of a 37-story building in the
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi, Toshihide Kashima, S. Farid Ghahari, Fariba Abazarsa, Ertugrul Taciroglu
Responses of two tall buildings in Tokyo, Japan, before, during, and after the M9.0 Tohoku earthquake of 11 March 2011
The 11 March 2011 M 9.0 Tohoku earthquake generated significant long duration shaking that propagated hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter and affected urban areas throughout much of Honshu. Recorded responses of tall buildings at several hundred km from the epicenter of the main shock and other events show tall buildings were affected by long-period motions of events at distant sources. This
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi, Yoshiuaki Hisada, Roshanak Omrani, S. Farid Ghahari, Ertugrul Taciroglu
Fault segmentation: New concepts from the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, USA
The question of whether structural segment boundaries along multisegment normal faults such as the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ) act as persistent barriers to rupture is critical to seismic hazard analyses. We synthesized late Holocene paleoseismic data from 20 trench sites along the central WFZ to evaluate earthquake rupture length and fault segmentation. For the youngest (<3 ka) and best-constrained
Authors
Christopher DuRoss, Stephen F. Personius, Anthony J. Crone, Susan S. Olig, Michael D. Hylland, William R. Lund, David P. Schwartz
Introduction to the special issue on the 25 April 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha(Nepal) earthquake
On April 25, 2015, a moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8 earthquake struck central Nepal, breaking a section of the broader Himalayan Front that had been largely quiescent in moderate-to-large earthquakes for much of the modern seismological era. Ground shaking associated with the event resulted in a broad distribution of triggered avalanches and landslides. The ensuing aftershock sequence was punctuated by
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes, Richard W. Briggs