Seismic velocity changes and nonvolcanic tremor activity in the Parkfield area in California reveal that large earthquakes induce long-term perturbations of crustal properties in the San Andreas fault zone. The 2003 San Simeon and 2004 Parkfield earthquakes both reduced seismic velocities that were measured from correlations of the ambient seismic noise and induced an increased nonvolcanic trem...

[1] Mud volcanoes sometimes respond to earthquakes, but the mechanisms by which earthquakes trigger changes in ongoing eruptions or initiate new eruptions are not completely understood. We measured gas discharge at a field of mud volcanoes near the Salton Sea, southern California, before and after the 4 April 2010 El Mayor‐Cucapah earthquake and observed an increase in gas flux immediately foll...

Plate motions are governed by equilibrium between basal and edge forces. Great earthquakes may induce differential static stress changes across tectonic plates, enabling a new equilibrium state. Here we consider the torque balance for idealized circular plates and find a simple scalar relationship for changes in relative plate speed as a function of its size, upper mantle viscosity, and coseism...

Earthquakes can produce significant tree mortality, and consequently affect regional carbon dynamics. Unfortunately, detailed studies quantifying the influence of earthquake on forest mortality are currently rare. The committed forest biomass carbon loss associated with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China is assessed by a synthetic approach in this study that integrated field investigation, r...

Soil liquefaction is a major cause of seismic damage in cohessionless soil during earthquakes. From past numerical and experimental research it has been observed that more excess pore water pressure (EPWP) is generated during earthquakes in a heterogeneous soil deposit than in the corresponding homogeneous soil with relative density equal to the average relative density of the heterogeneous soi...

Nobody can forget the devastating 7.0magnitude earthquake that struck poverty-stricken Haiti, Port-au-Prince recently on 12 January 2010. At least 75,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands became homeless; authorities are worried about sanitation and outbreaks of disease in the region. The camps are full of people and there are not even the most basic facilities for any others. Humani...

S U M M A R Y This paper addresses the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath southern China with special emphasis on the Tibet region. Waveform data from 48 earthquakes as recorded on the WWSSN and GDSN are used in this detailed forward modelling study. Constraints on the upper crustal section are derived from modelling local Love waves in the time domain applying the mode-su...

Paleoseismological study of geologic features thought to result from Quaternary tectonic faulting can characterize the frequencies and sizes of large prehistoric and historical earthquakes, thereby improving the accuracy and precision of seismichazard assessments. Greater accuracy and precision can reduce the likelihood of both underprotection and unnecessary design and construction costs. Publ...