There are a sparse number of credible source models available from past earthquakes and a stochastic source model generation algorithm thus becomes necessary for robust risk quantification using scenario earthquakes. We present an algorithm that combines the physics of fault rupture as imaged in laboratory earthquakes with stress estimates on the fault constrained by field observations to gener...

[1] We assessed the accuracy of earthquake source parameters inverted from simulated Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data. Using focal mechanisms of Australian earthquakes (1959 to the present), we simulated synthetic two-pass InSAR observations with realistic spatial noise derived from the characteristics of actual ERS-2 and ENVISAT InSAR data observed over Australia. The prec...

Abstract There is a sparse number of credible source models available from largemagnitude past earthquakes. A stochastic source-model-generation algorithm thus becomes necessary for robust risk quantification using scenario earthquakes. We present an algorithm that combines the physics of fault ruptures as imaged in laboratory earthquakes with stress estimates on the fault constrained by field ...

Evidence suggests that slip in earthquakes and the resultant stress changes are spatially heterogeneous. If crustal stress from past earthquakes is spatially heterogeneous, then earthquake focal mechanisms should also be spatially variable. We describe the statistical attributes of simulated earthquake catalogs, including hypocenters and focal mechanisms, for a spatially 3D, time-varying model ...

Earthquakes can cause tremendous loss of life and property yet predicting the behavior of earthquake fault systems is exceptionally difficult. The Earths crust is complex and earthquakes generate at depth, which is problematic for understanding earthquake fault behavior. Geodetic imaging observations of crustal deformation from Global Positioning System (GPS) and Interferometric Synthetic Apert...

in the last 150 year, most destructive earthquakes of kopeh dagh occurred near quchan. these earthquakes caused large damages to quchan (tchalenko, 1975; ambraseys and melville, 1982). the kopeh dagh zone accommodates a motion, by a combination of slip-partitioning in the nw, thrust faulting in the se, and anticlockwise block rotation in the central kopeh dagh (hollingsworth et al. 2006, 2008)....

We analyze previously published geodetic data and intensity values for the Ms = 8.1 Shillong (1897), Ms = 7.8 Kangra (1905), and Ms = 8.2 Nepal/Bihar (1934) earthquakes to investigate the rupture zones of these earthquakes as well as the amplification of ground motions throughout the Punjab, Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. For each earthquake we subtract the observed MSK intensities from a synt...

U the physics of complex phenomena such as earthquakes is a formidable challenge. Because we are constrained by our inability to do experiments on earthquake faults, we turn to computers as our earthquake laboratories. Computer simulations of earthquakes help us to test theoretical models and allow us to generate catalogs of synthetic earthquake events. In this column, we discuss several models...

Rank-ordering statistics provides a perspective on the rare, largest elements of a population, whereas the statistics of cumulative distributions are dominated by the more numerous small events. The exponent of a power law distribution can be determined with good accuracy by rank-ordering statistics from the observation of only a few tens of the largest events. Using analytical results and synt...

We have identified three groups of deep earthquakes showing nearly identical waveforms in the Tonga slab. Relocation with a cross-correlation method shows that each cluster is composed of 10 to 30 earthquakes along a plane 10 to 30 kilometers in length. Some of the earthquakes are colocated, demonstrating repeated rupture of the same fault, and one pair of events shows identical rupture complex...