HR: 17:45h
AN: T54C-08 INVITED [Abstracts]
TI: GPS Contribution to New Madrid Seismic Zone Hazard Estimation
AU: * Smalley, R
EM: smalley@ceri.memphis.edu
AF: Center for Earthquake Research and Information
The University of Memphis, 3876 Central Ave., Ste 1, Memphis, TN 38152, United States
AU: Paul, J
EM: jpuchkyl@memphis.edu
AF: Center for Earthquake Research and Information
The University of Memphis, 3876 Central Ave., Ste 1, Memphis, TN 38152, United States
AU: Ellis, M A
EM: mellis@memphis.edu
AF: Center for Earthquake Research and Information
The University of Memphis, 3876 Central Ave., Ste 1, Memphis, TN 38152, United States
AB:
Continued study of the New Madrid seismic zone further deepens the enigma of the world's&p most active intraplate seismic zone. Paleoseismic studies indicate the occurrence, with an approximate 500 year
recurrence interval, of three to four previous events or sequences of several clustered events. Newer estimations
of the magnitudes of the events in the 1811-1812 sequence suggest they are smaller than initially proposed,
which lessens the amount of energy that has to be stored in the crust to produce the earthquakes by at least two
orders of magnitude. Application of GPS technology (both campaign and continuous GPS measurements) to the
problem of understanding New Madrid seismic zone earthquakes has not yet produced a definitive determination
of a strain field there. Challenges in the application of GPS in the New Madrid seismic zone range from the lack of
a paradigm for intraplate earthquakes to the effects of the unconsolidated Mississippi Embayment sediments on
the transferal of crustal deformation through the sediments at large scale to monument stability at small scale.
Both more time and denser continuous GPS measurements are needed before strong results from GPS can
significantly change the seismic hazard estimates obtained independently by non-GPS studies.
DE: 1240 Satellite geodesy: results (6929, 7215, 7230, 7240)
DE: 1242 Seismic cycle related deformations (6924, 7209, 7223, 7230)
DE: 1243 Space geodetic surveys
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting