We introduce a new method to determine the magnitude of completeness Mc and its uncertainty. Our method models the entire magnitude range (EMR method) consisting of the self-similar complete part of the frequency-magnitude distribution and the incomplete portion, thus providing a comprehensive seismicity model. We compare the EMR method with three existing techniques, finding that EMR shows a s...

Most of the seismicity in the Los Angeles Basin (LA Basin) occurs at depth below the sediments and is caused by transpressional tectonics related to the big bend in the San Andreas fault. However, some of the seismicity could be associated with fluid extraction or injection in oil fields that have been in production for almost a century and cover ~ 17% of the basin. In a recent study, first the...

We calculate physical properties of rocks in subduction zones using a compilation of mineral physical property measurements, a new set of phase diagrams and subduction-zone thermal models, and apply our results to Cascadia. Observed P-wave speeds of the Juan de Fuca plate west of the Cascadia trench are best matched by a greenschist-facies upper crust and metastable, partially hydrated lower cr...

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...

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...

We analyse the statistical pattern of seismicity before a 1-2 10 m chalk cliff collapse on the Normandie ocean shore, Western France. We show that a power law acceleration of seismicity rate and energy in both 40 Hz-1.5 kHz and 2 Hz-10kHz frequency range, is defined on 3 order of magnitude, within 2 hours from the collapse time. Simultaneously, the average size of the seismic events increases t...

[1] The great earthquake sequence that occurred in the central Mississippi River Valley during the winter of 1811– 1812 is unprecedented in the historical record of seismicity within stable continental plate interiors. We show, using viscous flow models based on high resolution seismic tomography, that the descent of the ancient Farallon slab into the deep mantle beneath central North America i...

High-resolution magnetotelluric (MT) studies of the San Andreas fault (SAF) near Hollister, CA have imaged a zone of high fluid content flanking the San Andreas fault and extending to midcrustal depths. This zone, extending northeastward to the Calaveras fault, is imaged as several focused regions of high conductivity, believed to be the expression of tectonically bound fluid pockets separated ...

Three large earthquakes occurred in the Gulf of Alask• during 1987-1988: one on November 17, 1987 (Mw = 7.2), the second one on November 30, 1987 (Mw = 7.8), and the third one on March 6, 1988 (Mw = 7.7). These major intraplate, strike-slip oceanic events occurred along conjugate trends in a region of no previous seismicity. Body wave modeling places their centroid depths in the upper mantle. T...