25 April 2019–Ever since Hawaii’s Kilauea stopped erupting in August 2018, ceasing activity for the first time in 35 years, scientists have been wondering about the volcano’s future. Its similarities to the Hawaiian seamount Lo`ihi might provide some answers, according to Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach at Western Washington University. In her presentation … Continue Reading »

25 April 2019–There have been no major ground rupturing earthquakes along California’s three highest slip rate faults—the San Andreas, the San Jacinto and the Hayward—in the past 100 years. At the 2019 SSA Annual Meeting, researchers discussed why this “hiatus” might exist, and what we might expect for California earthquakes … Continue Reading »

25 April 2019–A spring surge of meltwater, seeping through vertically tilted layers of rock, caused a seismic swarm near California’s Long Valley Caldera in 2017, according to research presented at the 2019 SSA Annual Meeting. The unusual event prompted U.S. Geological Survey researcher Emily Montgomery-Brown and her colleagues to look … Continue Reading »

24 April 2019–Researchers at the SSA 2019 Annual Meeting are discussing proposed revisions to the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM). The draft report concludes that there could be significantly increased ground shaking across many locations in the central and eastern United States, as well as four urban areas built on … Continue Reading »

24 April 2019–The central Salish Sea of the Pacific Northwest is bounded by two active fault zones that could trigger rockfalls and slumps of sediment that might lead to tsunamis, according to a presentation at the 2019 SSA Annual Meeting. These tsunamis might be directed toward the islands of San … Continue Reading »

24 April 2019–Using ground motions generated for a range of simulated magnitude 9 earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest, researchers are testing how well reinforced concrete walls might stand up under such seismic events. The walls may not fare so well, especially within the city of Seattle, said University of Washington … Continue Reading »