Publications
Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
Filter Total Items: 2573
Responses of the odd couple Carquinez, CA, suspension bridge during the Mw6.0 south Napa earthquake of August 24, 2014
The behavior of the suspension bridge in Carquinez, CA, during the Mw6.0 24 August 2014 South Napa, CA earthquake is studied. Utilizing data from an extensive array of accelerometers that recorded the earthquake-excited motions, dynamic characteristics such as modes, corresponding frequencies and damping are identified and compared with previous studies that used ambient data of the deck only plus
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi, S. Farid Ghahari, Ertugrul Taciroglu
Status of three-dimensional geological mapping and modeling activities in the U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), created in 1879, is the national geological survey
for the United States and the sole science agency within its cabinet-level bureau, the
Department of the Interior. The USGS has a broad mission, including: serving the Nation by
providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of
life and property from natural disaster
Authors
Donald S. Sweetkind, Russell Graymer, D. K. Higley, Oliver S. Boyd
Impact of down-dip rupture limit and high stress drop subevents on coseismic land-level change during Cascadia megathrust earthquakes
Seismic hazard associated with Cascadia megathrust earthquakes is strongly dependent on the landward rupture extent and heterogeneous fault properties. We use 3-D numerical simulations and a seismic velocity model for Cascadia to estimate coseismic deformation due to ~M9 earthquake scenarios. Our earthquake source model is based on observations of the 2010 M8.8 Maule and 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquak
Authors
Erin A. Wirth, Arthur Frankel
Near-fault velocity spectra from laboratory failures and their relation to natural ground motion
We compared near-fault velocity spectra recorded during laboratory experiments to that of natural earthquakes. We fractured crystalline rock samples at room temperature and intermediate confining pressure (50 MPa). Subsequent slip events were generated on the fracture surfaces under higher confinement (300 MPa). Velocity spectra from rock fracture resemble the inverse frequency (1/f) decay of natu
Authors
Nicholas M. Beeler, David A. Lockner, Brian D. Kilgore, Greg McClaskey
Ground failure from the Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of 30 November 2018
Investigation of ground failure triggered by the 2018 MwMw 7.1 Anchorage earthquake showed that landslides, liquefaction, and ground cracking all occurred and caused significant damage. Shallow rock falls and rock slides were the most abundant types of landslides, but they occurred in smaller numbers than global models that are based on earthquake magnitude predict; this might result from the 2018
Authors
Randall W. Jibson, Alex R. R. Grant, Robert C. Witter, Kate E. Allstadt, Eric M. Thompson, Adrian Bender
Highlights of a cursory study of behavior of three instrumented buildings during the Mw7.1 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake of November 30, 2018
This is a cursory study of the recorded responses of three buildings instrumented by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Anchorage, Alaska, during the MwMw 7.1 earthquake of 30 November 2018. The earthquake caused the strongest shaking in Anchorage since the well‐known 1964 MwMw 9.2 Great Alaska earthquake. Since the 1964 event, several structures (buildings and bridges) in Anchorage have been in
Authors
Mehmet Çelebi
Where was the 31 October 1895, Charleston, Missouri Earthquake?
We revisit the magnitude and location of the 31 October 1895 Charleston, Missouri earthquake, which is widely regarded to be the last MW6 or greater earthquake in the central United States. Although a recent study (Bakun et al., 2003) concluded that this earthquake was located in southern Illinois, over 100 km north of the traditionally inferred location near Charleston, Missouri, our analysis of
Authors
Stacey S. Martin, Susan E. Hough
The HayWired earthquake scenario—Societal consequences
The HayWired Earthquake Scenario—Societal Consequences is the third volume of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Scientific Investigations Report 2017–5013, which describes the HayWired scenario, developed by USGS and its partners. The scenario is a hypothetical yet scientifically realistic earthquake sequence that is being used to better understand hazards for the San Francisco Bay region during and a
The 30 November 2018 Mw7.1 Anchorage Earthquake
The Mw 7.1 47 km deep earthquake that occurred on 30 November 2018 had deep societal impacts across southcentral Alaska and exhibited phenomena of broad scientific interest. We document observations that point to future directions of research and hazard mitigation. The rupture mechanism, aftershocks, and deformation of the mainshock are consistent with extension inside the Pacific plate near the d
Authors
Michael E. West, Adrian Bender, Matthew Gardine, Lea Gardine, Kara Gately, Peter J. Haeussler, Wael Hassan, Franz Meyer, Cole Richards, Natalia Ruppert, Carl Tape, John Thornley, Robert Witter
The effect of brine on the electrical properties of methane hydrate
Gas hydrates possess lower electrical conductivity (inverse of resistivity) than either seawater or ice, but higher than clastic silts and sands, such that electromagnetic methods can be employed to help identify their natural formation in marine and permafrost environments. Controlled laboratory studies offer a means to isolate and quantify the effects of changing individual components within gas
Authors
Ryan Lu, Laura A. Stern, Wyatt L. Du Frane, John C. Pinkston, J. Murray Roberts, S. Constable
Stormquakes
Seismic signals from ocean-solid Earth interactions are ubiquitously recorded on our planet. However, these wavefields are typically incoherent in most frequency bands limiting their utilization for understanding ocean dynamics or solid Earth properties. In contrast, we find that during large storms such as hurricanes and Nor’easters the interaction of long-period ocean waves with shallow seafloor
Authors
Wenyuan Fan, Jeffrey McGuire, C. D. de Groot-Hedlin, M. A. H. Hedlin, S. Coats, J. W. Fiedler
Earthquake arrival association with backprojection and graph theory
The association of seismic‐wave arrivals with causative earthquakes becomes progressively more challenging as arrival detection methods become more sensitive, and particularly when earthquake rates are high. For instance, seismic waves arriving across a monitoring network from several sources may overlap in time, false arrivals may be detected, and some arrivals may be of unknown phase (e.g., P or
Authors
Ian McBrearty, Joan S. Gomberg, Andrew Delorey, Paul Johnson