Humans may be to blame for California’s second-largest 20th century earthquake, and a team of seismologists has now proposed how that could have happened.
faults
Posted inNews
Faults off Alaska Look Akin to Those Behind 2011 Japan Disaster
In a seismically quiet segment of Alaska’s subduction zone lie faults with structures similar to those of the system that caused the deadly Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Posted inScience Updates
A Closer Look at an Undersea Source of Alaskan Earthquakes
A systematic survey offers a striking portrait of movement along a 500-kilometer-long undersea section of the Queen Charlotte–Fairweather fault off the coast of southeastern Alaska.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Mesmerized by Gracefully Gliding Albatrosses
Despite avian distractions and dreadful weather, a research cruise to map the seafloor off Alaska revealed new insights into the Queen Charlotte Fault.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lab Experiments Show How Fault Surfaces Get Groovy
Formation of nanometer-scale quartz beads could promote linear “slickenline” patterns and facilitate fault movement.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Catching Glimpses of Centuries-Old Earthquakes
Researchers in the western United States survey the earthquakes that have torn up California for the past millennium.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Why Do Great Earthquakes Follow Each Other at Subduction Zones?
A decade of continuous GPS measurements in South America indicates that enhanced strain accumulation following a great earthquake can initiate failure along adjacent fault segments.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Neotectonics and Earthquake Forecasting
The editors of a new book describe the evolution of major earthquake producing fault zones in the eastern Mediterranean region and explore how earthquake forecasting could improve.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
On the Origin of Low-Angle Detachment Faults
Data from California's Whipple Mountains suggest this complex was formed by a succession of steep normal faults, challenging the paradigm that detachments are different types of faults.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Alteration Along the Alpine Fault Helps Build Seismic Strain
Detailed analysis of cores drilled through New Zealand's most dangerous on-land fault indicates that its permeability and strength are altered by mineral precipitation between seismic events.