The Nisqually earthquake which struck the Puget Sound area on February
28, 2001, poses the first opportunity to study an earthquake and its aftereffects
in the
Pacific Northwest using GPS geodesy. With assitance from UNAVCO and USGS/SCIGN,
PANGA installed additional regional continuous GPS stations shortly after the event.
M. Meghan Miller testified before the Subcommittee on Research, The
Committee on Science United States House of Representatives on Life in
the Subduction Zone: The recent Nisqually Earthquake and Federal Efforts
to Reduce Earthquake Hazards. Click here, for a copy
of the full testimony. [PDF]
For a copy of the abstract click on: The
February 28, 2001 Nisqually earthquake: GPS Geodesy and quantifying seismic hazard. [PDF]
Information about
PANGA rapid-response initiatives.
Blyn Mountain [BLYN]
Gold Mountain [KTBW]
Lake Chaplain [LKCP]
Pack Forest [CPXF]
Pu Pu Point [PUPU]
Tumwater Hill [TWHL]
new Suominet site at Manastash Ridge Observatory (SC00)
Preliminary elastic half-space modeling
of predicted horizontal surface displacements are now available, with
vertical uplift contours. This model predicts the co-seismic deformation,
about a maximum of 10 mm or 8 mm of vertical and horizontal surface displacments.
Model parameters:
Fault area: 30 km x 15 km
Strike 347°, dip 77°, slip -104
Epicenter: 47.167 -122.733
Depth: 59 km
Mw=6.8
Nisqually Earthquake Displacements
are available here.
Based on preliminary reports, it appears that the loss in the Nisqually earthquake will
total about $2 billion. In terms of energy released, the earthquake was about one-third
as strong as the 1949 earthquake. The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 53 km
on a normal fault within the down-going Juan de Fuca plate.
PANGA earthquake-response initiatives
Historic earthquakes greater than 4.5 in the Pacific Northwest
Southern California Earthquake
Center
United States
Geological Survey
Seismological Laboratory,
Caltech
University
of Washington
IRIS
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last modified Jan 16 '03
