A multidisciplinary approach to seismic hazard in southern California

1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 1293-1309
Author(s):  
Steven N. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Current Model ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Historical Seismicity ◽  
San Andreas ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Moderate Earthquake ◽  
Earthquake Potential ◽  
Seismic Moment Release

Abstract A serious obstacle facing seismic hazard assessment in southern California has been the characterization of earthquake potential in areas far from known major faults where historical seismicity and paleoseismic data are sparse. This article attempts to fill the voids in earthquake statistics by generating “master model” maps of seismic hazard that blend information from geology, paleoseismology, space geodesy, observational seismology, and synthetic seismicity. The current model suggests that about 40% of the seismic moment release in southern California could occur in widely scattered areas away from the principal faults. As a result, over a 30-yr period, nearly all of the region from the Pacific Ocean to 50 km east of the San Andreas Fault has a greater than 50/50 chance of experiencing moderate shaking of 0.1 g or greater, and about a 1 in 20 chance of suffering levels exceeding 0.3 g. For most of the residents of southern California, thelion's share of hazard from moderate earthquake shaking over a 30-yr period derives from smaller, closer, more frequent earthquakes in the magnitude range (5 ≦ M ≦ 7) rather than from large San Andreas ruptures, whatever their likelihood.

scholarly journals A revised position for the primary strand of the Pleistocene-Holocene San Andreas fault in southern California

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. eaaz5691
Author(s):  
Kimberly Blisniuk ◽  
Katherine Scharer ◽  
Warren D. Sharp ◽  
Roland Burgmann ◽  
Colin Amos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Southern California ◽  
San Andreas Fault ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Large Magnitude ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
San Andreas ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Large Earthquakes ◽  
Dependent Probability

The San Andreas fault has the highest calculated time-dependent probability for large-magnitude earthquakes in southern California. However, where the fault is multistranded east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, it has been uncertain which strand has the fastest slip rate and, therefore, which has the highest probability of a destructive earthquake. Reconstruction of offset Pleistocene-Holocene landforms dated using the uranium-thorium soil carbonate and beryllium-10 surface exposure techniques indicates slip rates of 24.1 ± 3 millimeter per year for the San Andreas fault, with 21.6 ± 2 and 2.5 ± 1 millimeters per year for the Mission Creek and Banning strands, respectively. These data establish the Mission Creek strand as the primary fault bounding the Pacific and North American plates at this latitude and imply that 6 to 9 meters of elastic strain has accumulated along the fault since the most recent surface-rupturing earthquake, highlighting the potential for large earthquakes along this strand.

scholarly journals A decade of seismicity in metropolitan France (2010-2019): the CEA/LDG methodologies and observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Duverger ◽  
Gilles Mazet-Roux ◽  
Laurent Bollinger ◽  
Aurélie Guilhem Trilla ◽  
Amaury Vallage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Hazard Assessment ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Moderate Earthquake ◽  
Seismicity Rates ◽  
Epicentral Intensity ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

We summarize ten years of the French seismicity recorded by the Geophysical and Detection Laboratory (LDG) of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) network from 2010 to 2019. During this period, 25,279 natural earthquakes were detected by the LDG and located within metropolitan France and its immediate vicinity. This seismicity contributes to more than 47% of the natural earthquakes instrumentally recorded since 1962 (mainly due to the improvement of network capacity), and includes about 28% of the most significant earthquakes with a magnitude ML ≥ 4.0. Recent seismic events therefore significantly expand the available national catalogues. The spatial distribution of 2010-2019 earthquakes is broadly similar to the previous instrumental pattern of the seismicity, with most of the seismic activity concentrated in the French Alps, the Pyrenees, the Brittany, the upper Rhine Graben and the Central Massif. A large part of the seismic activity is related to the occurrence of individual events. The largest earthquakes of the last ten years include the November 11, 2019 Le Teil earthquake with ML 5.4 and maximal epicentral intensities VII to VIII, which occurred in the Rhone valley; the April 28, 2016 La Rochelle earthquake with ML 5.2 and epicentral intensity V, which occurred at the southernmost extremity of the Armorican Massif in the vicinity of the Oléron island; and the April 7, 2014 Barcelonnette earthquake with ML 5.1 and epicentral intensity VII, which occurred in the Ubaye valley in the Alps. In 2019, two other moderate earthquakes of ML 5.1 and ML 4.9 stroke the western part of France, in Charente-Maritime and Maine-et-Loire department, respectively. The recent moderate earthquake occurrences and the large number of small earthquakes recorded give both the potential to revise some regional historical events and to determine more robust frequency-magnitude distributions, which are critical for seismic hazard assessment but complex due to low seismicity rates in France. The LDG seismic network installed since the early 1960s also allows a better characterization of the temporal structure of seismicity, partly diffused and in the form of mainshock-aftershocks sequences or transient swarms. These aspects are important in order to lower the uncertainties associated to seismogenic sources and improve the models in seismic hazard assessment for metropolitan France.

Seismic hazard analysis: a comparative study

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 1156-1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
H P Hong ◽  
K Goda ◽  
A G Davenport
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Historical Seismicity ◽  
Hazard Maps ◽  
Uniform Hazard Spectra ◽  
Attenuation Relations ◽  
Seismic Hazard Maps ◽  
Cell Method ◽  
Thiessen Polygon ◽  
The Impact

The quantitative seismic hazard maps for the 1970s National Building Code of Canada were evaluated using the Davenport–Milne method. The Cornell–McGuire method is employed to develop recent seismic hazard maps of Canada. These methods incorporate the information on seismicity, magnitude-recurrence relations, and ground motion (or response) attenuation relations. The former preserves and depends completely on details of the historical seismicity; the latter smoothes the irregular spatial occurrence pattern of the historical seismicity into seismic source zones. Further, the Epicentral Cell method, which attempts to incorporate the preserving and smoothing aspect of these methods, has been developed. However, the impact of the adopted assumptions on the estimated quantitative seismic hazard has not been investigated. This study provides a comparative seismic hazard assessment using the above-mentioned methods and simulation-based algorithms. The analysis results show that overall the Davenport–Milne method gives quasi-circular seismic hazard contours near significant historical events, and the Cornell–McGuire method smoothes the transition of contours. The Epicentral Cell method provides estimates approximately within the former and the latter. Key words: epicentral cell method, probability, seismic hazard, Thiessen polygon, Voronoi, uniform hazard spectra.

Seismic hazard estimate from background seismicity in southern California

1996 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 1372-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianqing Cao ◽  
Mark D. Petersen ◽  
Michael S. Reichle
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Seismic Source ◽  
Source Model ◽  
Historical Seismicity ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
Smoothing Function ◽  
Background Seismicity ◽  
Seismic Source Model ◽  
Seismicity Catalog

Abstract We analyzed the historical seismicity in southern California to develop a rational approach for calculating the seismic hazard from background seismicity of magnitude 6.5 or smaller. The basic assumption for the approach is that future earthquakes will be clustered spatially near locations of historical mainshocks of magnitudes equal to or greater than 4. We analyzed the declustered California seismicity catalog to compute the rate of earthquakes on a grid and then smoothed these rates to account for the spatial distribution of future earthquakes. To find a suitable spatial smoothing function, we studied the distance (r) correlation for southern California earthquakes and found that they follow a 1/rµ power-law relation, where µ increases with magnitude. This result suggests that larger events are more clustered in space than smaller earthquakes. Assuming the seismicity follows the Gutenberg-Richter distribution, we calculated peak ground accelerations (PGA) for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 yr. PGA estimates range between 0.25 and 0.35 g across much of southern California. These ground-motion levels are generally less than half the levels of hazard that are obtained using the entire seismic source model that also includes geologic and geodetic data. We also calculated the overall uncertainty for the hazard map using a Monte Carlo method and found that the coefficient of variation is about 0.24 ± 0.01 for much of the region.

Crustal strain and seismic hazard of the NE Tibetan Plateau

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Ou ◽  
Simon Daout ◽  
Chris Rollins ◽  
Jonathan Weiss ◽  
Barry Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Strain Rate ◽  
Hazard Assessment ◽  
Release Rate ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
B Value ◽  
Earthquake Catalogues ◽  
Seismic Moment Release ◽  
Ne Tibetan Plateau

<p>Seismic hazard assessment for the NE Tibetan Plateau is of paramount importance because of the growing population density and the accelerated communication and trade activities along the rejuvenated Ancient Silk Road, following the Belt and Road Initiative, and the opening of the high speed railways. Previous-generation seismic hazard assessments were largely based on earthquake catalogues which are shorter than typical earthquake cycles and are temporally and spatially incomplete. This is exacerbated by the fact that magnitudes of many historical Chinese earthquakes are overestimated. In this study, we present new earthquake rate estimates for the NE Tibetan Plateau derived from both an InSAR strain rate map and a re-estimated magnitude of the 1920 Haiyuan Earthquake. First, we obtain a ~100 m resolution strain rate map from five years of Sentinel-1 InSAR data covering an area of 439254 km2 which shows strain concentrated along the Haiyuan and East Kunlun Faults and distributed across the Qilian thrusts and the West Qingling Fault. Second, the magnitude of the Haiyuan Earthquake has been re-estimated to Mw 7.9 ± 0.2 using both historical seismograms and offset measurements. Taking the total moment release rate given by the strain rate map and the magnitude of the 1920 Haiyuan Earthquake as the largest magnitude in the Gutenberg-Richter relationship, we generate rate-balancing frequency-magnitude models with different b values and percentages of seismic moment release. Comparing our models against four earthquake catalogues covering different periods and magnitude ranges suggests the following: (1) With a b value of 1 and 75% seismic moment release, the calculated relationship fits well the International Seismological Centre - Global Earthquakes Catalogue (ISC-GEM, 97 years) catalogue in the range Mw>6.5, but overestimates all other catalogues not containing the Haiyuan Earthquake; (2) keeping a b value of 1 and in order to fit the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Catalogue (GCMT, 34 years), the China Earthquake Networks Center Catalogue (CENC, 12 years) and the China Historical Strong Earthquakes Catalogue (CHSEC, 411 years), a low seismic release rate of 30% would be required; the resultant relationship also fits the ISC-GEM catalogue excluding the Haiyuan Earthquake and its aftershocks; (3) to fit all of the catalogues, it is necessary to reduce the b value to 0.7, in which case only 25% aseismic moment release would be required, giving confidence that Mw 7.9 ± 0.2 is likely the largest magnitude required to balance the tectonic strain in the NE Tibetan Plateau. This study highlights the dominating strain release by, and the effect on the b value of, the largest earthquake and demonstrates the advantage of combining tectonic strain and earthquake catalogues for seismic hazard assessment.</p>

scholarly journals Style of faulting of expected earthquakes in Italy as an input for seismic hazard modeling

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 3577-3592
Author(s):  
Silvia Pondrelli ◽  
Francesco Visini ◽  
Andrea Rovida ◽  
Vera D'Amico ◽  
Bruno Pace ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Seismic Moment ◽  
Outer Part ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Source Model ◽  
Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Seismic Zone ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
Area Source ◽  
Seismic Moment Release

Abstract. The style of faulting and distributions of nodal planes are essential input for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. As part of a recent elaboration of a new seismic hazard model for Italy, we defined criteria to parameterize the styles of faulting of expected earthquake ruptures and to evaluate their representativeness in an area-based seismicity model. Using available seismic moment tensors for relevant seismic events (Mw≥4.5), first arrival focal mechanisms for less recent earthquakes, and also geological data on past activated faults, we collected a database for the last ∼100 years by gathering a thousand data points for the Italian peninsula and regions around it. In this dataset, we adopted a procedure that consists, in each seismic zone, of separating the available seismic moment tensors into the three main tectonic styles, making a summation within each group, identifying possible nodal plane(s), taking into account the different percentages of styles of faulting, and including where necessary total or partial (even in terms of tectonic style) random source contributions. Referring to the area source model used, for several seismic zones we obtained robust results; e.g., along the central and southern Apennines we expect future earthquakes to be mostly extensional, although in the outer part of the chain reverse and strike-slip events are possible. In the northern part of the Apennines we expect different styles of faulting for different hypocentral depths. In zones characterized by a low seismic moment release, the possible style of faulting of future earthquakes is less clear and it has been represented using different combinations of random sources. The robustness of our results is confirmed when compared with recent relevant earthquakes occurring in Italy.

scholarly journals A case for historic joint rupture of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. e1500621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian C. Lozos
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Southern California ◽  
San Andreas Fault ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Dynamic Rupture ◽  
San Jacinto Fault ◽  
Fault Behavior ◽  
San Andreas ◽  
Primary Plate

The San Andreas fault is considered to be the primary plate boundary fault in southern California and the most likely fault to produce a major earthquake. I use dynamic rupture modeling to show that the San Jacinto fault is capable of rupturing along with the San Andreas in a single earthquake, and interpret these results along with existing paleoseismic data and historic damage reports to suggest that this has likely occurred in the historic past. In particular, I find that paleoseismic data and historic observations for the ~M7.5 earthquake of 8 December 1812 are best explained by a rupture that begins on the San Jacinto fault and propagates onto the San Andreas fault. This precedent carries the implications that similar joint ruptures are possible in the future and that the San Jacinto fault plays a more significant role in seismic hazard in southern California than previously considered. My work also shows how physics-based modeling can be used for interpreting paleoseismic data sets and understanding prehistoric fault behavior.

scholarly journals Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of the Canterbury region, New Zealand

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Stirling ◽  
Jarg Pettinga ◽  
Kelvin Berryman ◽  
Mark Yetton
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Hazard Assessment ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Historical Seismicity ◽  
Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment ◽  
Probabilistic Seismic Hazard ◽  
Ground Acceleration

We present the main results of a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment of the Canterbury region recently completed for Environment Canterbury (formerly Canterbury Regional Council). We use the distribution of active faults and the historical record of earthquakes to estimate the levels of earthquake shaking (peak ground acceleration and response spectral accelerations) that can be expected across the Canterbury region with return periods of 150, 475 and 1000 years. The strongest shaking (e.g. 475 year peak ground accelerations of 0.7g or more) can be expected in the west and north to northwest of the Canterbury region, where the greatest concentrations of known active faults and historical seismicity are located. Site-specific analyses of eight towns and cities selected by Environment Canterbury show that Arthur's Pass and Kaikoura are located within these zones of high hazard. In contrast, the centres studied in the Canterbury Plains (Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Christchurch, Ashburton, Temuka and Timaru) are generally located away from the zones of highest hazard. The study represents the first application of recently-developed methods in probabilistic seismic hazard at a regional scale in New Zealand.

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