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Educational Publications
Educational Publications
Selected publications about earthquakes In plain language.
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Revisions to some parameters used in stochastic-method simulations of ground motion
The stochastic method of ground‐motion simulation specifies the amplitude spectrum as a function of magnitude (M) and distance (R). The manner in which the amplitude spectrum varies with M and R depends on physical‐based parameters that are often constrained by recorded motions for a particular region (e.g., stress parameter, geometrical spreading, quality factor, and crustal amplifications), whic
Authors
David Boore, Eric M. Thompson
The Landscape Evolution Observatory: a large-scale controllable infrastructure to study coupled Earth-surface processes
Zero-order drainage basins, and their constituent hillslopes, are the fundamental geomorphic unit comprising much of Earth's uplands. The convergent topography of these landscapes generates spatially variable substrate and moisture content, facilitating biological diversity and influencing how the landscape filters precipitation and sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide. In light of these signific
Authors
Luke A. Pangle, Stephen B. DeLong, Nate Abramson, John Adams, Greg A. Barron-Gafford, David D. Breshears, Paul D. Brooks, Jon Chorover, William E. Dietrich, Katerina Dontsova, Matej Durcik, Javier Espeleta, T.P.A. Ferré, Regis Ferriere, Whitney Henderson, Edward A. Hunt, Travis E. Huxman, David Millar, Brendan Murphy, Guo-Yue Niu, Mitch Pavao-Zuckerman, Jon D. Pelletier, Craig Rasmussen, Joaquin Ruiz, Scott Saleska, Marcel Schaap, Michael Sibayan, Peter A. Troch, Markus Tuller, Joost van Haren, Xubin Zeng
Seismicity of the Earth 1900-2013, seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)
The South American arc extends over 7,000 kilometers (km), from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile, to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin thei
Authors
Gavin P. Hayes, Gregory M. Smoczyk, Harley M. Benz, Kevin P. Furlong, Antonio Villaseñor
Coping with earthquakes induced by fluid injection
Large areas of the United States long considered geologically stable with little or no detected seismicity have recently become seismically active. The increase in earthquake activity began in the mid-continent starting in 2001 (1) and has continued to rise. In 2014, the rate of occurrence of earthquakes with magnitudes (M) of 3 and greater in Oklahoma exceeded that in California (see the figure).
Authors
Arthur F. McGarr, Barbara Bekins, Nina Burkardt, James W. Dewey, Paul S. Earle, William L. Ellsworth, Shemin Ge, Stephen H. Hickman, Austin F. Holland, Ernest Majer, Justin L. Rubinstein, Anne Sheehan
The 21 May 2014 Mw 5.9 Bay of Bengal earthquake: macroseismic data suggest a high‐stress‐drop event
A modest but noteworthy Mw 5.9 earthquake occurred in the Bay of Bengal beneath the central Bengal fan at 21:51 Indian Standard Time (16:21 UTC) on 21 May 2014. Centered over 300 km from the eastern coastline of India (Fig. 1), it caused modest damage by virtue of its location and magnitude. However, shaking was very widely felt in parts of eastern India where earthquakes are uncommon. Media outle
Authors
Stacey Martin, Susan E. Hough
Earthquake hypocenters and focal mechanisms in central Oklahoma reveal a complex system of reactivated subsurface strike-slip faulting
The sharp increase in seismicity over a broad region of central Oklahoma has raised concern regarding the source of the activity and its potential hazard to local communities and energy industry infrastructure. Since early 2010, numerous organizations have deployed temporary portable seismic stations in central Oklahoma in order to record the evolving seismicity. In this study, we apply a multiple
Authors
Daniel E. McNamara, Harley M. Benz, Robert B. Herrmann, Eric A. Bergman, Paul S. Earle, Austin F. Holland, Randy W. Baldwin, A. Gassner
Strike-parallel and strike-normal coordinate system around geometrically complicated rupture traces: use by NGA-West2 and further improvements
We present a two-dimensional system of generalized coordinates for use with geometrically complex fault ruptures that are neither straight nor continuous. The coordinates are a generalization of the conventional strike-normal and strike-parallel coordinates of a single straight fault. The presented conventions and formulations are applicable to a single curved trace, as well as multiple traces rep
Authors
Paul A. Spudich, Brian Chiou
Simulation of acceleration field of the Lushan earthquake (Ms7.0, April 20, 2013, China)
The acceleration field of the Lushan earthquake (Ms7.0, April 20, 2013, China) is simulated using a new modified version of the stochastic finite-fault method (EXSIM) based on a dynamic corner frequency approach. To incorporate the effect of heterogeneous slip distribution on the variation of source spectrum, we adopt an empirical source spectral model and derive the corresponding dynamic paramete
Authors
Wang Guoxin, Ding Yang, Roger D. Borcherdt
Update of the Graizer-Kalkan ground-motion prediction equations for shallow crustal continental earthquakes
A ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE) for computing medians and standard deviations of peak ground acceleration and 5-percent damped pseudo spectral acceleration response ordinates of maximum horizontal component of randomly oriented ground motions was developed by Graizer and Kalkan (2007, 2009) to be used for seismic hazard analyses and engineering applications. This GMPE was derived from t
Authors
Vladimir Graizer, Erol Kalkan
Beach ridges as paleoseismic indicators of abrupt coastal subsidence during subduction zone earthquakes, and implications for Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone paleoseismology, southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
The Kenai section of the eastern Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone straddles two areas of high slip in the 1964 great Alaska earthquake and is the least studied of the three megathrust segments (Kodiak, Kenai, Prince William Sound) that ruptured in 1964. Investigation of two coastal sites in the eastern part of the Kenai segment, on the southeast coast of the Kenai Peninsula, identified evidence for
Authors
Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter, Simon E. Engelhart, Richard W. Briggs, Alan R. Nelson, Peter J. Haeussler, D. Reide Corbett
Comment on “Models of stochastic, spatially varying stress in the crust compatible with focal‐mechanism data, and how stress inversions can be biased toward the stress rate” by Deborah Elaine Smith and Thomas H. Heaton
Smith and Heaton (2011) propose a model in which stress in the crust is fractal‐like and highly variable on a range of length scales, including short length‐scales of ~1 km. Smith and Heaton (2011) motivate the need for stress heterogeneity on short length‐scales by citing observations such as short length‐scale changes in stress directions inferred from borehole breakouts, short length‐scale chan
Authors
Jeanne L. Hardebeck
Ground motion observations of the 2014 South Napa earthquake
Ground motions of the South Napa earthquake (24 August 2014; M 6.0) were recorded at 19 stations within 20 km and 292 stations within 100 km of the rupture surface trace, generating peak ground motions in excess of 50%g and 50 cm/s in and near Napa Valley. This large dataset allows us to compare the ground motion from the earthquake to existing ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) in consid
Authors
Annemarie S. Baltay, John Boatwright