ALBERT

Description: Although the time-averaged shear-wave velocity down to 30 m depth ( V S 30 ) can be a proxy for estimating earthquake ground-motion amplification, significant controversy exists about its limitations when used as a single parameter for the prediction of amplification. To examine this question in absence of relevant strong-motion records, we use a range of different methods to measure the shear-wave velocity profiles and the resulting theoretical site amplification factors (AFs) for 30 sites in the Newcastle area, Australia, in a series of blind comparison studies. The multimethod approach used here combines past seismic cone penetrometer and spectral analysis of surface-wave data, with newly acquired horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio, passive-source surface-wave spatial autocorrelation (SPAC), refraction microtremor (ReMi), and multichannel analysis of surface-wave data. The various measurement techniques predicted a range of different AFs. The SPAC and ReMi techniques have the smallest overall deviation from the median AF for the majority of sites. We show that V S 30 can be related to spectral response above a period T of 0.5 s but not necessarily with the maximum amplification according to the modeling done based on the measured shear-wave velocity profiles. Both V S 30 and AF values are influenced by the velocity ratio between bedrock and overlying sediments and the presence of surficial thin low-velocity layers (〈2 m thick and 〈150 m/s), but the velocity ratio is what mostly affects the AF. At 0.2〈 T 〈0.4 s, the AFs are largely controlled by the surficial geology of a particular site. AF maxima are the highest in the hard classes, which is the inverse of the findings used in the Australian Building Code. Only for T 〉0.5 s do the amplification curves consistently show higher values for soft site classes and lower for hard classes.

Description: In 2001, a rare swarm of small, shallow earthquakes beneath the city of Spokane, Washington, caused ground shaking as well as audible booms over a five-month period. Subsequent Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data analysis revealed an area of surface uplift in the vicinity of the earthquake swarm. To investigate the potential faults that may have caused both the earthquakes and the topographic uplift, we collected ~3 km of high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles to image the upper-source region of the swarm. The two profiles reveal a complex deformational pattern within Quaternary alluvial, fluvial, and flood deposits, underlain by Tertiary basalts and basin sediments. At least 100 m of arching on a basalt surface in the upper 500 m is interpreted from both the seismic profiles and magnetic modeling. Two west-dipping faults deform Quaternary sediments and project to the surface near the location of the Spokane fault defined from modeling of the InSAR data.

Description: Shear-wave velocity ( V S ) and time-averaged shear-wave velocity to 30 m depth ( V S 30 ) are the key parameters used in seismic site response modeling and earthquake engineering design. Where V S data are limited, available data are often used to develop and refine map-based proxy models of V S 30 for predicting ground-motion intensities. In this paper, we present shallow V S data from 27 sites in Puerto Rico. These data were acquired using a multimethod acquisition approach consisting of noninvasive, collocated, active-source body-wave (refraction/reflection), active-source surface wave at nine sites, and passive-source surface-wave refraction microtremor (ReMi) techniques. V S -versus-depth models are constructed and used to calculate spectral response plots for each site. Factors affecting method reliability are analyzed with respect to site-specific differences in bedrock V S and spectral response. At many but not all sites, body- and surface-wave methods generally determine similar depths to bedrock, and it is the difference in bedrock V S that influences site amplification. The predicted resonant frequencies for the majority of the sites are observed to be within a relatively narrow bandwidth of 1–3.5 Hz. For a first-order comparison of peak frequency position, predictive spectral response plots from eight sites are plotted along with seismograph instrument spectra derived from the time series of the 16 May 2010 Puerto Rico earthquake. We show how a multimethod acquisition approach using collocated arrays compliments and corroborates V S results, thus adding confidence that reliable site characterization information has been obtained.

Description: We characterize shallow subsurface faulting and basin structure along a transect through heavily urbanized Reno, Nevada, with high-resolution seismic reflection imaging. The 6.8 km of P -wave data image the subsurface to approximately 800 m depth and delineate two subbasins and basin uplift that are consistent with structure previously inferred from gravity modeling in this region of the northern Walker Lane. We interpret two primary faults that bound the uplift and deform Quaternary deposits. The dip of Quaternary and Tertiary strata in the western subbasin increases with greater depth to the east, suggesting recurrent fault motion across the westernmost of these faults. Deformation in the Quaternary section of the western subbasin is likely evidence of extensional growth folding at the edge of the Truckee River through Reno. This deformation is north of, and on trend with, previously mapped Quaternary fault strands of the Mt. Rose fault zone. In addition to corroborating the existence of previously inferred intrabasin structure, these data provide evidence for an active extensional Quaternary fault at a previously unknown location within the Truckee Meadows basin that furthers our understanding of both the seismotectonic framework and earthquake hazards in this urbanized region.

Description: Near-surface thrust fault splays and antithetic backthrusts at the tips of major thrust fault systems can distribute slip across multiple shallow fault strands, complicating earthquake hazard analyses based on studies of surface faulting. The shallow expression of the fault strands forming the Seattle fault zone of Washington State shows the structural relationships and interactions between such fault strands. Paleoseismic studies document an ~7000 yr history of earthquakes on multiple faults within the Seattle fault zone, with some backthrusts inferred to rupture in small (M ~5.5–6.0) earthquakes at times other than during earthquakes on the main thrust faults. We interpret seismic-reflection profiles to show three main thrust faults, one of which is a blind thrust fault directly beneath downtown Seattle, and four small backthrusts within the Seattle fault zone. We then model fault slip, constrained by shallow deformation, to show that the Seattle fault forms a fault propagation fold rather than the alternatively proposed roof thrust system. Fault slip modeling shows that back-thrust ruptures driven by moderate (M ~6.5–6.7) earthquakes on the main thrust faults are consistent with the paleoseismic data. The results indicate that paleoseismic data from the back-thrust ruptures reveal the times of moderate earthquakes on the main fault system, rather than indicating smaller (M ~5.5–6.0) earthquakes involving only the backthrusts. Estimates of cumulative shortening during known Seattle fault zone earthquakes support the inference that the Seattle fault has been the major seismic hazard in the northern Cascadia forearc in the late Holocene.

Description: We collected new high-resolution P -wave seismic-reflection data to explore for possible faults beneath a roughly linear cluster of early to mid-Holocene earthquake-induced sand blows to the south of Marianna, Arkansas. The Daytona Beach sand blow deposits are located in east-central Arkansas about 75 km southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and about 80 km south of the southwestern end of the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). Previous studies of these sand blows indicate that they were produced between 10,500 and 5350 yr B.P. (before A.D. 1950). The sand blows are large and similar in size to those in the heart of the NMSZ produced by the 1811–1812 earthquakes. The seismic-reflection profiles reveal a previously unknown zone of near-vertical faults imaged in the 100–1100-m depth range that are approximately coincident with a cluster of earthquake-induced sand blows and a near-linear surface lineament composed of air photo tonal anomalies. These interpreted faults are expressed as vertical discontinuities with the largest displacement fault showing about 40 m of west-side-up displacement at the top of the Paleozoic section at about 1100 m depth. There are about 20 m of folding on reflections within the Eocene strata at 400 m depth. Increasing fault displacement with depth suggests long-term recurrent faulting. The imaged faults within the vicinity of the numerous sand blow features could be a causative earthquake source, although it does not rule out the possibility of other seismic sources nearby. These newly located faults add to a growing list of potentially active Pleistocene–Holocene faults discovered over the last two decades that are within the Mississippi embayment region but outside of the historical NMSZ.

Description: Gravity and magnetic anomalies suggest that the Olympia structure beneath the southern Puget Lowland (western Washington State, U.S.) vertically displaces Eocene Crescent Formation strata. Northeast of the Olympia structure, middle Eocene Crescent Formation is beneath 4–6 km of Paleogene–Neogene and Quaternary strata of the Tacoma basin, whereas the Crescent Formation is exposed at the surface immediately to the south. Although numerous marine seismic reflection profiles have been acquired near the surface location of the Olympia structure as defined by potential field anomalies, its tectonic character remains enigmatic, in part because inlets of southern Puget Sound are too shallow for the collection of deep-penetration marine seismic profiles across the geophysical anomalies. To supplement existing shallow-marine data near the structure, we acquired 14.6 km of land-based seismic reflection data along a profile that extends from Crescent Formation exposed in the Black Hills northward across the projected surface location of the Olympia structure. The reflection seismic data image the Crescent bedrock surface to ~1 km depth beneath the southern Tacoma basin and reveal the dip on this surface to be no greater than ~10°. Although regional potential field data show a strong linear trend for the Olympia structure that implies folding over a blind thrust and/or bedrock juxtaposed against a weakly to nonmagnetic sediment section, high-resolution magnetic anomaly analysis along the land-based profile suggests that the structure is more complex. Overall, seismic and potential-field profiles presented in this study identify only minor shallow faulting within the projected surface location of the Olympia structure. We suggest that the mapped trace of the Olympia structure along the northern flank of the Black Hills, at least within the study area, is constrained by juxtaposed normal and reversely magnetized Crescent Formation units and minor tectonic deformation of Crescent Formation bedrock.

Description: To improve the characterization of Holocene earthquakes on the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ), we conducted light detection and ranging (lidar)‐based neotectonic mapping and excavated a paleoseismic trench across an 8‐m‐high fault scarp near Alpine, Utah, located 〈1  km south of the boundary between the Salt Lake City and Provo segments (SLCS and PS). We document evidence for six paleoearthquakes (AL6–AL1) from scarp‐derived colluvial wedges and crosscutting relations. A ground‐penetrating radar survey across the scarp resolved fault‐zone width, but not paleoearthquake stratigraphy. Bayesian (OxCal) modeling of 13 radiocarbon and 13 optically stimulated luminescence ages indicates that six earthquakes occurred ∼6.2–0.4  ka. Interseismic recurrence ranges from 0.2 to 1.8 ky (mean 1.2 ky). We estimate 6.5±0.7  m of cumulative vertical tectonic displacement across the ≥14‐m‐wide fault zone used near‐field observations of scarp‐derived colluvial‐wedge thicknesses, antithetic faulting, and graben backtilting. This is similar to our independent estimate of 6.5±0.5  m using far‐field observations of the offset ground surface and correlation of alluvial‐fan stratigraphy across the WFZ. These results suggest that colluvial‐wedge thickness at the Alpine site approximates one‐half the original west‐facing fault scarp height. Per‐event vertical displacements range from 0.8 to 1.2 m (mean 1.1 m), which we use to estimate surface rupture lengths that may exceed 50 km from earthquakes as large as moment magnitude (Mw) ∼7.0. The late Holocene average vertical slip rate is 0.9  mm/yr (0.7–1.2  mm/yr range). Earthquake frequency has increased in the past ∼1  ky, whereas displacement per event has been similar for the past ∼6  ky, suggesting that strain accumulation is not the sole factor that controls the frequency and size of earthquakes at the SLCS–PS segment boundary. These findings can be used for a more nuanced characterization of earthquakes at the SLCS–PS boundary and improve earthquake hazard assessments along the Wasatch Front.