Seismic Hazard in the Intermountain West

The 2014 national seismic-hazard model for the conterminous United States incorporates new scientific results and important model adjustments. The current model includes updates to the historical catalog, which is spatially smoothed using both fixed-length and adaptive-length smoothing kernels. Fault-source characterization improved by adding faults, revising rates of activity, and incorporating new results from combined inversions of geologic and geodetic data. The update also includes a new suite of published ground motion models. Changes in probabilistic ground motion are generally less than 10% in most of the Intermountain West compared to the prior assessment, and ground-motion hazard in four Intermountain West cities illustrates the range and magnitude of change in the region. Seismic hazard at reference sites in Boise and Reno increased as much as 10%, whereas hazard in Salt Lake City decreased 5–6%. The largest change was in Las Vegas, where hazard increased 32–35%.

[1]  Peter M. Powers,et al.  2014 Update to the National Seismic Hazard Model in California , 2015 .

[2]  Marc L. Sbar,et al.  Contemporary tectonics and seismicity of the Western United States with emphasis on the Intermountain Seismic Belt , 1974 .

[3]  P. Shearer,et al.  The Long-Lasting Aftershock Series of the 3 May 1887 Mw 7.5 Sonora Earthquake in the Mexican Basin and Range Province , 2010 .

[4]  D. P. Schwartz,et al.  Recurrence of moderate to large magnitude earthquakes produced by surface faulting on the Wasatch fault zone, Utah , 1980 .

[5]  D. P. Schwartz,et al.  Fault behavior and characteristic earthquakes: Examples from the Wasatch and San Andreas Fault Zones , 1984 .

[6]  M. Stickney,et al.  Seismicity and late Quaternary faulting of the northern basin and range province, Montana and Idaho , 1987 .

[7]  G. Blewitt,et al.  Geodetic constraints on contemporary deformation in the northern Walker Lane: 3. Central Nevada seismic belt postseismic relaxation , 2009 .

[8]  B. Luke,et al.  An Alternative Analysis of the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard for Las Vegas Valley, Nevada , 2014 .

[9]  P. Shearer,et al.  The Long-Lasting Aftershock Series of the 3 May 1887 M w 7.5 Sonora Earthquake in the Mexican Basin , 2010 .

[10]  W. Hays.  Assessment of regional earthquake hazards and risk along the Wasatch Front, Utah , 1987 .

[11]  Nicolas Luco,et al.  Updates to Building-Code Maps for the 2015 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions , 2015 .

[12]  J. Ferguson,et al.  Active displacement transfer and differential block motion within the central Walker Lane, western Great Basin , 2001 .

[13]  C. DuRoss,et al.  Holocene and latest Pleistocene paleoseismology of the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, at the Penrose Drive Trench Site , 2014 .

[14]  S. Harmsen,et al.  Implementation of NGA-West2 Ground Motion Models in the 2014 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps , 2014 .

[15]  C. DuRoss,et al.  Synchronous Ruptures along a Major Graben‐Forming Fault System: Wasatch and West Valley Fault Zones, Utah , 2015 .

[16]  Tom Parsons.  Monte Carlo method for determining earthquake recurrence parameters from short paleoseismic catalogs: Example calculations for California , 2008 .

[17]  Morgan P. Moschetti,et al.  Geodesy- and Geology-Based Slip-Rate Models for the Western United States (Excluding California) National Seismic Hazard Maps , 2014 .

[18]  Morgan P. Moschetti,et al.  2014 Update of the Pacific Northwest Portion of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps , 2015 .

[19]  Morgan P. Moschetti,et al.  Ground Motion Models Used in the 2014 U.S. National Seismic Hazard Maps , 2015 .

[20]  Body-wave attenuation near the rupture of the 1887 Sonora, México, earthquake (Mw 7.5) , 2009 .

[21]  W. Hammond,et al.  Neotectonics, geodesy, and seismic hazard in the Northern Walker Lane of Western North America: Thirty kilometers of crustal shear and no strike-slip? , 2011 .

[22]  Charles S. Mueller,et al.  Documentation for the 2008 update of the United States National Seismic Hazard Maps , 2008 .

[23]  Charles S. Mueller,et al.  Seismic Source Characterization for the 2014 Update of the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Model , 2015 .

[24]  Charles S. Mueller,et al.  Seismic Hazard in the Eastern United States , 2015 .

[25]  K. Olsen,et al.  3D Simulations of M 7 Earthquakes on the Wasatch Fault, Utah, Part I: Long-Period (0-1 Hz) Ground Motion , 2011 .

[26]  S. Harmsen,et al.  Documentation for the 2002 update of the national seismic hazard maps , 2002 .

[27]  Charles S. Mueller,et al.  Seismic Hazard in the Nation's Breadbasket , 2015 .

[28]  Craig M. dePolo,et al.  Large-magnitude, late Holocene earthquakes on the Genoa fault, west-central Nevada and eastern California , 1999, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[29]  D. B. Slemmons,et al.  Latest Quaternary Fault Movement along the Las Vegas Valley Fault System, Clark County, Nevada , 2006 .

[30]  D. Perkins,et al.  National Seismic-Hazard Maps: Documentation June 1996 , 1996 .

[31]  C Depolo,et al.  The maximum background earthquake for the Basin and Range Province, western North America Bulletin - Seismological Society of America, 84 (2), 1994, pp 466–472 , 1994 .

[32]  D. Wells,et al.  New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement , 1994, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[33]  Anna H. Olsen,et al.  The 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model , 2015 .