Publications

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

This chapter summarizes experimental observations and related theoretical developments of faulted and intact rock properties related to earthquake nucleation, failure and dynamic slip. We will be concerned primarily with earthquakes occurring in the brittle crust. Intermediate and deep-focus earthquakes have unique mechanical considerations that are discussed in Section 7. We focus on repeatable l

The strength of active fault zones, i.e., the shear stress level required to cause fault slip, is fundamental to understanding the physics of earthquakes and to assessing earthquake hazard. Although many researchers have concluded that fault zones are weak (shear stresses 10 MPa or less averaged between 0 and ˜20 km depth), others maintain that faults are strong (˜100 MPa average of an approximate

The Volcano Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is part of the Geologic Hazards Assessments subactivity as funded by Congressional appropriation. Investigations are carried out in the Geology and Hydrology Disciplines of the USGS and with cooperators at the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, University of Ha

As of the time of this writing, the San Francisco Bay region is home to about 6.8 million people, ranking fifth among population centers in the United States. Most of these people live on the coastal lands along San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento River delta, and the Pacific coast. The region straddles the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates and is crossed by several str

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a summary of the seismic velocity structure of the continental lithosphere, i.e., the crust and uppermost mantle. We define the crust as the outer layer of the Earth that is separated from the underlying mantle by the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho). We adopted the usual convention of defining the seismic Moho as the level in the Earth where the seismic c

No abstract available.

A compilation of paleomagnetic data from volcanic deposits of Mount St. Helens is presented in this report. The database is used to determine signature paleomagnetic directions of products from its Holocene eruptive events, to assign sampled units to their proper eruptive period, and to begin the assembly of a much larger database of paleomagnetic directions from Holocene volcanic rocks in western

Before the August 1999 Izmit (Kocaeli), Turkey, earthquake, theoretical studies of earthquake ruptures and geological observations had provided estimates of how far an earthquake might jump to get to a neighboring fault. Both numerical simulations and geological observations suggested that 5 km might be the upper limit if there were no transfer faults. The Izmit earthquake appears to have followed

The nucleus of the Jupiter-family comet 19P/Borrelly was closely observed by the Miniature Integrated Camera and Spectrometer aboard the Deep Space 1 spacecraft on 22 September 2001. The 8-kilometer-long body is highly variegated on a scale of 200 meters, exhibiting large albedo variations (0.01 to 0.03) and complex geologic relationships. Short-wavelength infrared spectra (1.3 to 2.6 micrometers)

Seismic anisotropy provides evidence for the physical state and tectonic evolution of the lithosphere. We discuss the origin of anisotropy at various depths, and relate it to tectonic stress, geotherms and rheology. The anisotropy of the uppermost mantle is controlled by the orthorhombic mineral olivine, and may result from ductile deformation, dynamic recrystallization or annealing. Anisotropy be