Fred F Pollitz
Fred Pollitz is a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He received his Ph.D in Geophysics (long-period seismology) from Princeton University in 1989, advised by Tony Dahlen.
As a postdoctoral researcher he switched focus to crustal deformation studies, motivated initially through collaboration with Dr. Selwyn Sacks at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. With the USGS since 2000, he has continued to work on problems related to crustal deformation and long-period seismology.
Education:
B.Sc. in Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA (1984)
B.Sc. in Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA (1984)
Ph.D. in Geophysics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ USA (1989)
Professional Experience:
1997 to 2000: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Davis
1995 to 1997: Isaac Newton Trust Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cambridge, England
1993 to 1995: Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow, Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe, Germany
1992 to 1993: CNRS Research Associate, Laboratoire de Sismologie, Institut de Physique du Globe, Paris
1989 to 1991: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Honors and Offices:
2010 - First author of two of the 20 most cited `earthquake’ papers of the period
2000-2010
2002 - 2013 - Associate Editor, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
1998 - 2001 - Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research
Science and Products
Data Release for the 2023 U.S. 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model - Overview
This data release contains data sets associated with the 2023 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model Update. The 2023 50-State National Seimsic Hazard Model (NSHM) Update includes an update to the NSHMs for the conterminous U.S (CONUS, last updated in 2018), Alaska (AK, last updated in 2007), and Hawaii (last updated in 2001). Data sets include inputs like seismicity catalogs used as input to the
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (western U.S.) (ver. 3.0, December 2023)
This Data Release contains version 3.0 of two related earthquake geology databases for use in the 2023 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model. The databases are: 1) A fault sections database (“NSHM23_FSD_v3”), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) an earthquake geology site information database (“NSHM23_EQGeoDB_v3”), which contains fault slip rate cons
Geodetic deformation model results and corrections for use in U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023
This page houses model results used in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model, 2023. We include results from four geodetic deformation models (Pollitz, Zeng, Shen, Evans), post-seismic relaxation ("ghost transient") calculation (Hearn), and creep calculation (Johnson/Murray). Geologic deformation model results are available in Hatem et al. (2022a).
An overview of all model procedures and comparis
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (western US) (ver. 2.0, February 2022)
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ('NSHM23_FSD_v2'), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ('NSHM23_EQGeoDB_v2'), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of updates to the N
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023, version 1.0
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ("NSHM2023_FaultSections_v1"), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ("NSHM2023_EQGeoDB_v1"), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of up
Filter Total Items: 50
U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program decadal science strategy, 2024–33
Executive Summary Earthquakes represent one of our Nation’s most significant and costly natural hazards, with estimated annual loses from earthquakes close to $15 billion in 2023. Over the past two centuries, 37 U.S. States have experienced an earthquake exceeding a magnitude of 5, and 50 percent of States have a significant potential for future damaging shaking; these statistics speak to the need
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, William D. Barnhart, Michael L. Blanpied, Lindsay A. Davis, Paul S. Earle, Ned Field, Jill M. Franks, Douglas D. Given, Ryan D. Gold, Christine A Goulet, Michelle M. Guy, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Nico Luco, Frederick Pollitz, Adam T. Ringler, Katherine M. Scharer, Steven Sobieszczyk, Valerie I. Thomas, Cecily J. Wolfe
The 2023 US 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model: Overview and implications
The US National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) was updated in 2023 for all 50 states using new science on seismicity, fault ruptures, ground motions, and probabilistic techniques to produce a standard of practice for public policy and other engineering applications (defined for return periods greater than ∼475 or less than ∼10,000 years). Changes in 2023 time-independent seismic hazard (both increase
Authors
Mark D. Petersen, Allison Shumway, Peter M. Powers, Ned Field, Morgan P. Moschetti, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Kevin R. Milner, Sanaz Rezaeian, Arthur Frankel, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Jason M. Altekruse, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Kyle Withers, Charles Mueller, Yuehua Zeng, Robert E. Chase, Leah M. Salditch, Nico Luco, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Julie A Herrick, Demi Leafar Girot, Brad T. Aagaard, Adrian Bender, Michael L. Blanpied, Richard W. Briggs, Oliver S. Boyd, Brandon Clayton, Christopher DuRoss, Eileen L. Evans, Peter J. Haeussler, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Kirstie Lafon Haynie, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Kaj M. Johnson, Zachary Alan Kortum, N. Simon Kwong, Andrew James Makdisi, Henry (Ben) Mason, Daniel McNamara, Devin McPhillips, P. Okubo, Morgan T. Page, Frederick Pollitz, Justin Rubinstein, Bruce E. Shaw, Zheng-Kang Shen, Brian Shiro, James Andrew Smith, William J. Stephenson, Eric M. Thompson, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Erin Wirth, Robert C. Witter
The USGS 2023 Conterminous U.S. time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast
We present the 2023 U.S. Geological Survey time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast for the conterminous United States, which gives authoritative estimates of the magnitude, location, and time‐averaged frequency of potentially damaging earthquakes throughout the region. In addition to updating virtually all model components, a major focus has been to provide a better representation of epistemi
Authors
Ned Field, Kevin R. Milner, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Peter M. Powers, Frederick Pollitz, Andrea L. Llenos, Yuehua Zeng, Kaj M. Johnson, Bruce E. Shaw, Devin McPhillips, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Allison Shumway, Andrew J. Michael, Zheng-Kang Shen, Eileen L. Evans, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Charles Mueller, Arthur Frankel, Mark D. Petersen, Christopher DuRoss, Richard W. Briggs, Morgan T. Page, Justin Rubinstein, Julie A Herrick
Shallow fault slip of the 2020 M5.1 Sparta, North Carolina, earthquake
The 2020 M 5.1 Sparta, North Carolina, earthquake is the largest in the eastern United States since the 2011 M 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake and produced a ∼2.5‐km‐long surface rupture, unusual for an event of this magnitude. A geological field study conducted soon after the event indicates oblique slip along a east‐southeast‐trending fault with a consistently observed thrust component. My ana
Authors
Frederick Pollitz
Comment on "Multi-Event explosive seismic source for the 2022 Mw 6.3 Hunga Tonga submarine volcanic eruption" by Julien Thurin, Carl Tape, and Ryan Modrak
No abstract available.
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Ricardo Garza-Giron, Thorne Lay
Converted-wave reverse time migration imaging in subduction zone settings
We use a newly developed 2-D elastic reverse time migration (RTM) imaging algorithm based on the Helmholtz decomposition to test approaches for imaging the descending slab in subduction zone regions using local earthquake sources. Our elastic RTM method is designed to reconstruct incident and scattered wavefields at depth, isolate constituent P- and S-wave components via Helmholtz decomposition, a
Authors
Leah Langer, Frederick Pollitz, Jeffrey J. McGuire
Slip deficit rates on southern Cascadia faults resolved with viscoelastic earthquake cycle modeling of geodetic deformation
The fore‐arc of the southern Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ), north of the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ), is home to a network of Quaternary‐active crustal faults that accumulate strain due to the interaction of the North American, Juan de Fuca (Gorda), and Pacific plates. These faults, including the Little Salmon and Mad River fault (LSF and MRF) zones, are located near the most populated parts
Authors
Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Jessica R. Murray, Frederick Pollitz, Jason R. Patton
Solid Earth–atmosphere interaction forces during the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption
Rapid venting of volcanic material during the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption generated impulsive downward reaction forces on the Earth of ~2.0 × 1013 N that radiated seismic waves observed throughout the planet, with ~25 s source bursts persisting for ~4.5 hours. The force time history is determined by analysis of teleseismic P waves and Rayleigh waves with periods approximately <50 s, providing i
Authors
Ricardo Garza-Giron, Thorne Lay, Frederick Pollitz, Hiroo Kanamori, Luis Rivera
Preface to the focus section on deformation models for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
No abstract available.
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Kaj M. Johnson
Western U.S. deformation models for the 2023 update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
This report describes geodetic and geologic information used to constrain deformation models of the 2023 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), a set of deformation models to interpret these data, and their implications for earthquake rates in the western United States. Recent updates provide a much larger data set of Global Positioning System crustal velocities than used in the 2014
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Eileen L. Evans, Ned Field, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Kaj M Johnson, Jessica R. Murray, Peter M. Powers, Zheng-Kang Shen, Crystal Wespestad, Yuehua Zeng
Viscoelastic fault-based model of crustal deformation for the 2023 update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
The 2023 update to the National Seismic Hazard (NSHM) model is informed by several deformation models that furnish geodetically estimated fault slip rates. Here I describe a fault‐based model that permits estimation of long‐term slip rates on discrete faults and the distribution of off‐fault moment release. It is based on quantification of the earthquake cycle on a viscoelastic model of the seismo
Authors
Frederick Pollitz
Kinematic slip model of the July 8, 2021 M6.0 Antelope Valley, California, earthquake
We present a kinematic slip model of the July 8, 2021 Antelope Valley earthquake from a finite-source inversion based on regional seismic waveforms and static offsets from GPS and InSAR. Seismic waveforms are employed at 6s dominant period out to 100 km from the epicenter, and the combined GPS and InSAR datasets cover the near field and far field out to ∼ 100 km and constrain the overall rupture s
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Charles Wicks, William M Hammond
STATIC1D
These programs solve the equations of static equilibrium in a spherically layered isotropic medium using a decomposition into spheroidal and toroidal motions.
Direct Green's Function Synthetic Seismograms
These programs are an implementation of the Direct Green’s Function method described by Friederich and Dalkolmo (1995) and Dalkolmo (1993).
VISCO1D
VISCO1D-v3 is a program package to calculate quasi-static deformation on a layered spherical Earth from a specified input source (fault plane parameters) at specified points on the surface or at depth.
Science and Products
Data Release for the 2023 U.S. 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model - Overview
This data release contains data sets associated with the 2023 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model Update. The 2023 50-State National Seimsic Hazard Model (NSHM) Update includes an update to the NSHMs for the conterminous U.S (CONUS, last updated in 2018), Alaska (AK, last updated in 2007), and Hawaii (last updated in 2001). Data sets include inputs like seismicity catalogs used as input to the
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (western U.S.) (ver. 3.0, December 2023)
This Data Release contains version 3.0 of two related earthquake geology databases for use in the 2023 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model. The databases are: 1) A fault sections database (“NSHM23_FSD_v3”), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) an earthquake geology site information database (“NSHM23_EQGeoDB_v3”), which contains fault slip rate cons
Geodetic deformation model results and corrections for use in U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model 2023
This page houses model results used in the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model, 2023. We include results from four geodetic deformation models (Pollitz, Zeng, Shen, Evans), post-seismic relaxation ("ghost transient") calculation (Hearn), and creep calculation (Johnson/Murray). Geologic deformation model results are available in Hatem et al. (2022a).
An overview of all model procedures and comparis
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023 (western US) (ver. 2.0, February 2022)
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ('NSHM23_FSD_v2'), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ('NSHM23_EQGeoDB_v2'), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of updates to the N
Earthquake geology inputs for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) 2023, version 1.0
This Data Release contains preliminary versions of two related databases: 1) A fault sections database ("NSHM2023_FaultSections_v1"), which depicts the geometry of faults capable of hosting independent earthquakes, and 2) An earthquake geology site information database ("NSHM2023_EQGeoDB_v1"), which contains fault slip-rate constraints at points. These databases were prepared in anticipation of up
Filter Total Items: 50
U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program decadal science strategy, 2024–33
Executive Summary Earthquakes represent one of our Nation’s most significant and costly natural hazards, with estimated annual loses from earthquakes close to $15 billion in 2023. Over the past two centuries, 37 U.S. States have experienced an earthquake exceeding a magnitude of 5, and 50 percent of States have a significant potential for future damaging shaking; these statistics speak to the need
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes, Annemarie S. Baltay Sundstrom, William D. Barnhart, Michael L. Blanpied, Lindsay A. Davis, Paul S. Earle, Ned Field, Jill M. Franks, Douglas D. Given, Ryan D. Gold, Christine A Goulet, Michelle M. Guy, Jeanne L. Hardebeck, Nico Luco, Frederick Pollitz, Adam T. Ringler, Katherine M. Scharer, Steven Sobieszczyk, Valerie I. Thomas, Cecily J. Wolfe
The 2023 US 50-State National Seismic Hazard Model: Overview and implications
The US National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) was updated in 2023 for all 50 states using new science on seismicity, fault ruptures, ground motions, and probabilistic techniques to produce a standard of practice for public policy and other engineering applications (defined for return periods greater than ∼475 or less than ∼10,000 years). Changes in 2023 time-independent seismic hazard (both increase
Authors
Mark D. Petersen, Allison Shumway, Peter M. Powers, Ned Field, Morgan P. Moschetti, Kishor S. Jaiswal, Kevin R. Milner, Sanaz Rezaeian, Arthur Frankel, Andrea L. Llenos, Andrew J. Michael, Jason M. Altekruse, Sean Kamran Ahdi, Kyle Withers, Charles Mueller, Yuehua Zeng, Robert E. Chase, Leah M. Salditch, Nico Luco, Kenneth S. Rukstales, Julie A Herrick, Demi Leafar Girot, Brad T. Aagaard, Adrian Bender, Michael L. Blanpied, Richard W. Briggs, Oliver S. Boyd, Brandon Clayton, Christopher DuRoss, Eileen L. Evans, Peter J. Haeussler, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Kirstie Lafon Haynie, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Kaj M. Johnson, Zachary Alan Kortum, N. Simon Kwong, Andrew James Makdisi, Henry (Ben) Mason, Daniel McNamara, Devin McPhillips, P. Okubo, Morgan T. Page, Frederick Pollitz, Justin Rubinstein, Bruce E. Shaw, Zheng-Kang Shen, Brian Shiro, James Andrew Smith, William J. Stephenson, Eric M. Thompson, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Erin Wirth, Robert C. Witter
The USGS 2023 Conterminous U.S. time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast
We present the 2023 U.S. Geological Survey time‐independent earthquake rupture forecast for the conterminous United States, which gives authoritative estimates of the magnitude, location, and time‐averaged frequency of potentially damaging earthquakes throughout the region. In addition to updating virtually all model components, a major focus has been to provide a better representation of epistemi
Authors
Ned Field, Kevin R. Milner, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Peter M. Powers, Frederick Pollitz, Andrea L. Llenos, Yuehua Zeng, Kaj M. Johnson, Bruce E. Shaw, Devin McPhillips, Jessica Ann Thompson Jobe, Allison Shumway, Andrew J. Michael, Zheng-Kang Shen, Eileen L. Evans, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Charles Mueller, Arthur Frankel, Mark D. Petersen, Christopher DuRoss, Richard W. Briggs, Morgan T. Page, Justin Rubinstein, Julie A Herrick
Shallow fault slip of the 2020 M5.1 Sparta, North Carolina, earthquake
The 2020 M 5.1 Sparta, North Carolina, earthquake is the largest in the eastern United States since the 2011 M 5.8 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake and produced a ∼2.5‐km‐long surface rupture, unusual for an event of this magnitude. A geological field study conducted soon after the event indicates oblique slip along a east‐southeast‐trending fault with a consistently observed thrust component. My ana
Authors
Frederick Pollitz
Comment on "Multi-Event explosive seismic source for the 2022 Mw 6.3 Hunga Tonga submarine volcanic eruption" by Julien Thurin, Carl Tape, and Ryan Modrak
No abstract available.
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Ricardo Garza-Giron, Thorne Lay
Converted-wave reverse time migration imaging in subduction zone settings
We use a newly developed 2-D elastic reverse time migration (RTM) imaging algorithm based on the Helmholtz decomposition to test approaches for imaging the descending slab in subduction zone regions using local earthquake sources. Our elastic RTM method is designed to reconstruct incident and scattered wavefields at depth, isolate constituent P- and S-wave components via Helmholtz decomposition, a
Authors
Leah Langer, Frederick Pollitz, Jeffrey J. McGuire
Slip deficit rates on southern Cascadia faults resolved with viscoelastic earthquake cycle modeling of geodetic deformation
The fore‐arc of the southern Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ), north of the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ), is home to a network of Quaternary‐active crustal faults that accumulate strain due to the interaction of the North American, Juan de Fuca (Gorda), and Pacific plates. These faults, including the Little Salmon and Mad River fault (LSF and MRF) zones, are located near the most populated parts
Authors
Kathryn Zerbe Materna, Jessica R. Murray, Frederick Pollitz, Jason R. Patton
Solid Earth–atmosphere interaction forces during the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption
Rapid venting of volcanic material during the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption generated impulsive downward reaction forces on the Earth of ~2.0 × 1013 N that radiated seismic waves observed throughout the planet, with ~25 s source bursts persisting for ~4.5 hours. The force time history is determined by analysis of teleseismic P waves and Rayleigh waves with periods approximately <50 s, providing i
Authors
Ricardo Garza-Giron, Thorne Lay, Frederick Pollitz, Hiroo Kanamori, Luis Rivera
Preface to the focus section on deformation models for the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
No abstract available.
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Kaj M. Johnson
Western U.S. deformation models for the 2023 update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
This report describes geodetic and geologic information used to constrain deformation models of the 2023 update to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM), a set of deformation models to interpret these data, and their implications for earthquake rates in the western United States. Recent updates provide a much larger data set of Global Positioning System crustal velocities than used in the 2014
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Eileen L. Evans, Ned Field, Alexandra Elise Hatem, Elizabeth H. Hearn, Kaj M Johnson, Jessica R. Murray, Peter M. Powers, Zheng-Kang Shen, Crystal Wespestad, Yuehua Zeng
Viscoelastic fault-based model of crustal deformation for the 2023 update to the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model
The 2023 update to the National Seismic Hazard (NSHM) model is informed by several deformation models that furnish geodetically estimated fault slip rates. Here I describe a fault‐based model that permits estimation of long‐term slip rates on discrete faults and the distribution of off‐fault moment release. It is based on quantification of the earthquake cycle on a viscoelastic model of the seismo
Authors
Frederick Pollitz
Kinematic slip model of the July 8, 2021 M6.0 Antelope Valley, California, earthquake
We present a kinematic slip model of the July 8, 2021 Antelope Valley earthquake from a finite-source inversion based on regional seismic waveforms and static offsets from GPS and InSAR. Seismic waveforms are employed at 6s dominant period out to 100 km from the epicenter, and the combined GPS and InSAR datasets cover the near field and far field out to ∼ 100 km and constrain the overall rupture s
Authors
Frederick Pollitz, Charles Wicks, William M Hammond
STATIC1D
These programs solve the equations of static equilibrium in a spherically layered isotropic medium using a decomposition into spheroidal and toroidal motions.
Direct Green's Function Synthetic Seismograms
These programs are an implementation of the Direct Green’s Function method described by Friederich and Dalkolmo (1995) and Dalkolmo (1993).
VISCO1D
VISCO1D-v3 is a program package to calculate quasi-static deformation on a layered spherical Earth from a specified input source (fault plane parameters) at specified points on the surface or at depth.