U.S. Geological Survey

Here we are concerned with solving for the long term average values of these parameters for the state of California. My primary data source is a catalog of 1850-2006 M  4.0 seismicity compiled with Tianqing Cao (Appendix H). Because earthquakes outside of the state can influence California I consider both earthquakes within the state and within 100 km of the state border (Figure 1).

The 2008 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Seismic Hazard Maps display earthquake ground motions for various probability levels across the United States and are applied in seismic provisions of building codes, insurance rate structures, risk assessments, and other public policy.

California’s 35 million people live among some of the most active earthquake faults in the United States. Public safety demands credible assessments of the earthquake hazard to maintain appropriate building codes for safe construction and earthquake insurance for loss protection. Seismic hazard analysis begins with an earthquake rupture forecast—a model of probabilities that earthquakes of specified magnitudes, locations, and faulting types will occur during a specified time interval.

The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for regional and national digital geologic maps that have been attributed with information about age and lithology.

Perennial vegetation data from 68 permanent plots on the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada, are given for the period of 1963 through 2002.

After more than a century of research, geologists and other scientists have increased their understanding of the tectonic processes at work in the Wasatch Front and are now beginning to answer the questions about the seismicity and tectonics of the Wasatch Front that Gilbert and others first posed Scientists, engineers, architects, urban planners, and emergency managers are not waiting for a major earthquake disaster to learn that measures must be implemented to mitigate an earthquake's effects.

This report presents an analysis of the basin geometry and structure of the San Rafael basin in southeastern Arizona. In addition, a new methodology for inferring concealed lithology is presented and applied in the San Rafael basin.

This paper is a progress report on the mapping effort for the central and eastern U.S.

The text is available online with links to each figure, and as a downloadable ascii file. Illustrations are available online as screen-viewable GIFs, and as downloadable eps files suitable for printing and editing.

The alluvial basins described in this report include about 82,000 square miles in south-central Arizona and parts of adjacent States. The area is composed of 72 basins that are virtually independent hydrologic systems.