Geology topics

Duncan Carr Agnew

Publications and source records attributed to Duncan Carr Agnew.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2014

Ongoing drought-induced uplift in the western United States.

The western United States has been experiencing severe drought since 2013. The solid earth response to the accompanying loss of surface and near-surface water mass should be a broad region of uplift. We use seasonally adjusted time series from continuously operating global positioning system stations to measure this uplift, which we invert to estimate mass loss. The median uplift is 5 millimeters (mm), with values up to 15 mm in California’s mountains. The associated pattern of mass loss, ranging up to 50 centimeters (cm) of water equivalent, is consistent with observed decreases in precipitation and streamflow. We estimate the total deficit to be ~240 gigatons, equivalent to a 10-cm layer of water over the entire region, or the annual mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Science↗

USGS2013

Infrequent triggering of tremor along the San Jacinto Fault near Anza, California

We examine the conditions necessary to trigger tremor along the San Jacinto fault (SJF) near Anza, California, where previous studies suggest triggered tremor occurs, but observations are sparse. We investigate the stress required to trigger tremor using continuous broadband seismograms from 11 stations located near Anza, California. We examine 44 M w ≥7.4 teleseismic events between 2001 and 2011; these events occur at a wide range of back azimuths and hypocentral distances. In addition, we included one smaller‐magnitude, regional event, the 2009 M w 6.5 Gulf of California earthquake, because it induced extremely high strains at Anza. We find the only episode of triggered tremor occurred during the 3 November 2002 M w 7.8 Denali earthquake. The tremor episode lasted 300 s, was composed of 12 tremor bursts, and was located along SJF at the northwestern edge of the Anza gap at approximately 13 km depth. The tremor episode started at the Love‐wave arrival, when surface‐wave particle motions are primarily in the transverse direction. We find that the Denali earthquake induced the second highest stress (~35 kPa) among the 44 teleseismic events and 1 regional event. The dominant period of the Denali surface wave was 22.8 s, at the lower end of the range observed for all events (20–40 s), similar to periods shown to trigger tremor in other locations. The surface waves from the 2009 M w 6.5 Gulf of California earthquake had the highest observed strain, yet a much shorter dominant period of 10 s and did not trigger tremor. This result suggests that not only the amplitude of the induced strain, but also the period of the incoming surface wave, may control triggering of tremors near Anza. In addition, we find that the transient‐shear stress (17–35 kPa) required to trigger tremor along the SJF at Anza is distinctly higher than what has been reported for the well‐studied San Andreas fault.

California↗

USGS1996

The accuracy of seismic estimates of dynamic strains: an evaluation using strainmeter and seismometer data from Piñon Flat Observatory, California

The dynamic strains associated with seismic waves may play a significant role in earthquake triggering, hydrological and magmatic changes, earthquake damage, and ground failure. We determine how accurately dynamic strains may be estimated from seismometer data and elastic-wave theory by comparing such estimated strains with strains measured on a three-component long-base strainmeter system at Piñon Flat, California. We quantify the uncertainties and errors through cross-spectral analysis of data from three regional earthquakes (the M 0 = 4 × 10 17 N-m St. George, Utah; M 0 = 4 × 10 17 N-m Little Skull Mountain, Nevada; and M 0 = 1 × 10 19 N-m Northridge, California, events at distances of 470, 345, and 206 km, respectively). Our analysis indicates that in most cases the phase of the estimated strain matches that of the observed strain quite well (to within the uncertainties, which are about ±0.1 to ±0.2 cycles). However, the amplitudes are often systematically off, at levels exceeding the uncertainties (about 20%); in one case, the predicted strain amplitudes are nearly twice those observed. We also observe significant ɛ φφ strains ( φ = tangential direction), which should be zero theoretically; in the worst case, the rms ɛ φφ strain exceeds the other nonzero components. These nonzero ɛ φφ strains cannot be caused by deviations of the surface-wave propagation paths from the expected azimuth or by departures from the plane-wave approximation. We believe that distortion of the strain field by topography or material heterogeneities give rise to these complexities.

California↗

USGS1994

Extremal bounds on earthquake movement from geodetic data: Application to the Landers earthquake

We present a technique to place quantifiable bounds on the moment of an earthquake from geodetic data, assuming known fault geometry. Application of this technique to the 1992 Landers earthquake shows that the moment must have been between 0.84 and 1.15 × 10 20 Nm with 90% confidence ( M 7.25 to 7.34). We also find that to satisfy the data to this same level of confidence, the slip on the fault must have exceeded 7 m in at least one location, in good agreement with field mapping of the surface rupture.

California↗