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Regional moisture balance control of landslide motion: implications for landslide forecasting in a changing climate

I correlated 12 years of annual movement of 18 points on a large, continuously moving, deep-seated landslide with a regional moisture balance index (moisture balance drought index, MBDI). I used MBDI values calculated from a combination of historical precipitation and air temperature data from A.D. 1895 to 2010, and downscaled climate projections using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Authors
Jeffrey A. Coe

Frequency-dependent attenuation of the Hispaniola Island region of the Caribbean Sea

We determine frequency-dependent attenuation 1/Q(f) for the Hispaniola region using direct S and Lg waves over five distinct passbands from 0.5 to 16 Hz. Data consist of 832 high-quality vertical and horizontal component waveforms recorded on short-period and broadband seismometers from the devastating 12 January 2010 M 7.0 Haiti earthquake and the rich sequence of aftershocks. For the distance ra
Authors
D. McNamara, M. Meremonte, J.Z. Maharrey, S-L. Mildor, J.R. Altidore, D. Anglade, S. E. Hough, D. Given, H. Benz, L. Gee, A. Frankel

Characterization of intrabasin faulting and deformation for earthquake hazards in southern Utah Valley, Utah, from high-resolution seismic imaging

We conducted active and passive seismic imaging investigations along a 5.6-km-long, east–west transect ending at the mapped trace of the Wasatch fault in southern Utah Valley. Using two-dimensional (2D) P-wave seismic reflection data, we imaged basin deformation and faulting to a depth of 1.4 km and developed a detailed interval velocity model for prestack depth migration and 2D ground-motion simu
Authors
William J. Stephenson, Jack K. Odum, Robert A. Williams, John H. McBride, Iris Tomlinson

Estimating pole/zero errors in GSN-IRIS/USGS network calibration metadata

Mapping the digital record of a seismograph into true ground motion requires the correction of the data by some description of the instrument's response. For the Global Seismographic Network (Butler et al., 2004), as well as many other networks, this instrument response is represented as a Laplace domain pole–zero model and published in the Standard for the Exchange of Earthquake Data (SEED) forma
Authors
A. T. Ringler, C. R. Hutt, R. Aster, H. Bolton, L.S. Gee, T. Storm

Aftershock seismicity of the 2010 Maule Mw=8.8 Chile, earthquake: Correlation between co-seismic slip models and aftershock distribution?

The 27 February 2010 Maule, Chile (Mw=8.8) earthquake is one of the best instrumentally observed subduction zone megathrust events. Here we present locations, magnitudes and cumulative equivalent moment of the first -2 months of aftershocks, recorded on a temporary network deployed within 2 weeks of the occurrence of the mainshock. Using automatically-determined onset times and a back projection a
Authors
A. Rietbrock, I. Ryder, G. Hayes, C. Haberland, D. Comte, S. Roecker

The Novarupta-Katmai eruption of 1912 - largest eruption of the twentieth century; centennial perspectives

The explosive outburst at Novarupta (Alaska) in June 1912 was the 20th century's most voluminous volcanic eruption. Marking its centennial, we illustrate and document the complex eruptive sequence, which was long misattributed to nearby Mount Katmai, and how its deposits have provided key insights about volcanic and magmatic processes. It was one of the few historical eruptions to produce a collap
Authors
Wes Hildreth, Judy Fierstein

The Stanford-U.S. Geological Survey SHRIMP ion microprobe--a tool for micro-scale chemical and isotopic analysis

Answers to many questions in Earth science require chemical analysis of minute volumes of minerals, volcanic glass, or biological materials. Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) is an extremely sensitive analytical method in which a 5–30 micrometer diameter "primary" beam of charged particles (ions) is focused on a region of a solid specimen to sputter secondary ions from 1–5 nanograms of the sa
Authors
Charles R. Bacon, Marty Grove, Jorge A. Vazquez, Matthew A. Coble

The physical hydrogeology of ore deposits

Hydrothermal ore deposits represent a convergence of fluid flow, thermal energy, and solute flux that is hydrogeologically unusual. From the hydrogeologic perspective, hydrothermal ore deposition represents a complex coupled-flow problem—sufficiently complex that physically rigorous description of the coupled thermal (T), hydraulic (H), mechanical (M), and chemical (C) processes (THMC modeling) co
Authors
Steven E. Ingebritsen, M.S. Appold

Including foreshocks and aftershocks in time-independent probabilistic seismic hazard analyses

Time‐independent probabilistic seismic‐hazard analysis treats each source as being temporally and spatially independent; hence foreshocks and aftershocks, which are both spatially and temporally dependent on the mainshock, are removed from earthquake catalogs. Yet, intuitively, these earthquakes should be considered part of the seismic hazard, capable of producing damaging ground motions. In this
Authors
Oliver S. Boyd

Geomorphic response of the Sandy River, Oregon, to removal of Marmot Dam

The October 2007 breaching of a temporary cofferdam constructed during removal of the 15-meter (m)-tall Marmot Dam on the Sandy River, Oregon, triggered a rapid sequence of fluvial responses as ~730,000 cubic meters (m3) of sand and gravel filling the former reservoir became available to a high-gradient river. Using direct measurements of sediment transport, photogrammetry, airborne light detectio
Authors
Jon J. Major, Jim E. O'Connor, Charles J. Podolak, Mackenzie K. Keith, Gordon E. Grant, Kurt R. Spicer, Smokey Pittman, Heather M. Bragg, J. Rose Wallick, Dwight Q. Tanner, Abagail Rhode, Peter R. Wilcock

Avian mortality associated with a volcanic gas seep at Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska

We identified natural pits associated with avian mortality at the base of Kiska Volcano in the western Aleutian Islands, Alaska in 2007. Living, moribund, and dead birds were regularly found at low spots in a canyon between two lava flows during 2001–2006, but the phenomenon was attributed to natural trapping and starvation of fledgling seabirds (mostly Least Auklets, Aethia pusilla) at a colony s
Authors
Alexander L. Bond, William C. Evans, Ian L. Jones

Modelling rating curves using remotely sensed LiDAR data

Accurate stream discharge measurements are important for many hydrological studies. In remote locations, however, it is often difficult to obtain stream flow information because of the difficulty in making the discharge measurements necessary to define stage-discharge relationships (rating curves). This study investigates the feasibility of defining rating curves by using a fluid mechanics-based m
Authors
Marcus Nathanson, Jason W. Kean, Thomas J. Grabs, Jan Seibert, Hjalmar Laudon, Steve W. Lyon
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