The subduction zone in northern Chile is a well-identified seismic gap that last ruptured in 1877. The moment magnitude (Mw) 8.1 Iquique earthquake of 1 April 2014 broke a highly coupled portion of this gap. To understand the seismicity preceding this event, we studied the location and mechanisms of the foreshocks and computed Global Positioning System (GPS) time series at stations located on s...

Seismically active fault systems may be in a state of self-organized criticality (SOC). Investigations of simple SOC models have suggested that earthquakes might be inherently unpredictable. In this paper, we analyze the question of predictability in a more complex and realistic SOC model, which consists of a spring-block system with transient creep characteristics. Additionally to the power la...

This paper is about short review of earthquake statistics and efforts for earthquake mitigation, hazard and risk assessment studies in Pakistan. Pakistan and adjoining region lying between longitude 60 ̊E to 78 ̊E and latitude 20 ̊N to 45 ̊N are selected for the study as this region has a history of many large earthquakes because of its location in the region of intersection of three plates namely ...

The development of most unconventional oil and gas resources relies upon subsurface injection of very large volumes of fluids, which can induce earthquakes by activating slip on a nearby fault. During the last 5 years, accelerated oilfield fluid injection has led to a sharp increase in the rate of earthquakes in some parts of North America. In the central United States, most induced seismicity ...

Unreinforced masonry (URM) structures are known to be rather vulnerable to seismic loading. Modern URM buildings with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs might, however, have an acceptable seismic performance for regions of low to moderate seismicity. In particular in countries of moderate seismicity it is often difficult to demonstrate the seismic safety of modern URM buildings by means of force-ba...

The Nazca, Caribbean, and South America plates meet in northwestern South America where the northern end of the Andean volcanic arc and Wadati-Benioff zone seismicity indicate ongoing subduction. However, the termination of Quaternary volcanism at ~5.5°N and eastward offset in seismicity underneath Colombia suggest the presence of complex slab geometry. To help link geometry to dynamics, we ana...

We determine a new relocated catalog, HYS_catalog_2011, for southern California from 1981 through June 2011. About 75.3% of the hypocenters are calculated with absolute and differential travel-time picks, and 24.7% could be relocated only by using absolute travel-time picks with 3D or 1D velocity models. The total catalog consists of more than 502,000 earthquakes in the region extending from Ba...

This paper aims at presenting what induced microseismicity is and how it is useful to produce source rock and tight formations. We use our 30-year experience in the field to discuss on data acquisition, processing and interpretation issues. In particular, we establish the difference between hydraulic fracture mapping and long-term monitoring of reservoir mechanical behavior. We comment on advan...

[1] Most large earthquakes in northern and central California clustered along the main trace of the San Andreas Fault (SAF), the North American-Pacific plate boundary. However, in southern California earthquakes were rather scattered. Here we suggest that such alongstrike variation of seismicity may largely reflect the geometrical impact of the SAF. Using a dynamic finite element model that inc...