Many thanks to Petroleum Experts Limited for 2020 Donation

Petroleum Experts Limited has again provided the School of Earth and Space Exploration with licensed software for 2D and 3D kinematic modelling, geomechanical, fracture, and fault response modeling and fault and stress analyses. These licenses are valued at $2,223,600.00 US Dollars and will enable our faculty and students to build and analyze complex 3D fault models to develop understanding of tectonic processes and to anticipate earthquake hazards.

We have acknowledged this donation in our March 2020 SESE Newsletter (LINK) as well as express our thanks in our building displays:

We are grateful for this donation. The MOVE suite of software is a powerful environment for 3D interpretation. My students and colleagues are using it to build 3D fault models. We will begin to work on sedimentary architecture in extensional environments in the coming year. In addition, with continued support of the licensed software, we will develop course material for it for our geology majors.

Example image from Petroleum Experts/MOVE.

Accumulating links for M6.5 earthquake 72 km west of Challis Idaho 3/31/2020 4:52 pm

An earthquake occurred in Idaho today 72 km west of Challis Idaho and about 120 km northeast of Boise Idaho. Based on the magnitude and location, I would think that it looks to be a classic Basin and Range earthquake rupturing along the mountain front south and west of Stanley Idaho (if it occurred along the Sawtooth fault--the closest active fault). But the focal mechanism is more strike-slip; we will have to wait for some updates.

The event was widely felt in the Intermontane west with light to moderate shaking in Boise. It was felt as far as Salt Lake City, Bozeman, and Spokane. The strongest ground motions appear to have been in the relatively low population Challis National Forest. Numerous aftershocks are expected.

Location of the epicenter in the Sawtooth Mountains. The yellow line to the south is the Sawtooth fault. Note the focal mechanism indicating strike-slip sense of motion

Links:

• Main USGS Page on the event
• Idaho Geological survey page on the event
• Fault map of the area from Idaho Geological Survey
• Seismogram recorded at ASU (thanks to John West, Ed Garnero, and Wendy Lin)
• Ground Motion Visualization from IRIS
• Writeup on the event from Temblor.net by Tiegan Hobbs
• UNAVCO response page
• Mapping of the area by Sotiris Valkaniotis
• Seismicity map by Jascha Polet
• Geologic map of the area (H/T Mike Bunds)
• Geomorphic pondering by Austin Elliott
• Commentary on why this would not be likely to have an effect on Yellowstone volcanic system (note that Mike Poland is an ASU Alum)--comments are for the Utah earthquake from a few weeks ago, but still generally relevant.
• Tectonic setting (from UCB Seismo Lab)

Virtual field geology exercises for GLG451 Field Geology I Spring 2020

Even before the COVID-19 crisis changed everything, I was working this semester to build some virtual options for my Field Geology I (GLG451) course. Two students are physically unable to do the field work, and then another had a crisis and missed two weekend field trips. The course has three weekend field trips and then a mini camp over spring break.

Locations of the field trips.

I decided to try to build some digital versions of the field trips using very high resolution digital elevation models and orthophotos from our SUAS systems (thanks to Tyler Scott for doing the flying and the SfM work). I wanted these to be as similar as possible to what the regular students experience so I give some initial information on the maps as well as numerous pictures from the ground and videos from the sUAS. For most of the exercises in the case of my class, I also am providing rock samples to the students of each of the mapping units.

All of the information for each of the assignments is in a long pdf which has the text assignment, links to data and images, etc. and then some explanation. It also has a topographic profile for a cross section, etc.
I am very happy to share with anyone who might find these useful. Here are the modules and the current status:

Module	Status	Link
Dreamy Draw, Phoenix Mountains, AZ	Done	LINK
Goldfields, Superstition Mountains, AZ	Done	LINK
Salt River, Bush Highway, AZ	Done	LINK
Arnett Creek, AZ	Done	LINK

Example video for the Goldfields in which we fly along the path of the introductory tour:

Here is an example of one of the explanatory tutorial videos for ArcGIS:

Here is geology tour for the Salt River mapping project:

Here is longer geology tour for the Arnett Creek Spring Break mapping project:

Accumulating links for today's southern Salt Lake Utah area earthquake (M5.65 earthquake 4km NNE of Magna, Utah: 03/18/2020 6:09:31 AM AZ time)

A M5.7 earthquake occurred this morning and it was widely felt along the northern Wasatch Front. Numerous aftershocks have occurred and will continue. Its characteristics are consistent with the crustal extension occurring in the region (Basin and Range).

I am accumulating some links here:

• Main USGS page on the event
• University of Utah Seismo lab post Site looks like it might be pretty busy here is their main page https://quake.utah.edu/
  UofU Seismo press conference
• Seismograms from AZ Broadband network (managed by SESE alum Jeri Young-BenHorin, PhD 2004)
• Seismogram plots from SESE seismologists John West and Ed Garnero
  Interpretation from Garnero: "for this earthquake we get to see some natural polarization of the surface waves, since the energy comes to ASU from due North. The Love wave is shear wave that vibrates purely perpendicular to the direction the energy comes from (thus we see something on the East-West component of motion that is not really present on the North-South or Up-Down). It is named after the mathematician A.E. Love who discovered them. In contrast, the Rayleigh wave (named after Lord Rayleigh) has P-wave and shear wave energy (that is perpendicular to the Love wave-making shear wave) combined, and it is nearly purely on the vertical and N-S components. It arrives after the love wave. We don't always see such a clear separately of the surface waves."
• Watch the seismic waves roll across North America on the USArray
• Nice graphic (updated) from Chris DuRoss on the event position relative to the projection of the Wasatch Fault
• Background from Utah Geological Survey: https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/wasatch-fault-above/ (written by SESE alum Emily Kleber MS 2015; now works for Utah DNR and is out surveying the damage today)
  Nice overview of the Wasatch Fault history
• Teaching/explanatory items from IRIS (note that SESE alum Wendy Bohon PhD 2014 is one of their communications leads):
  Animation of Basin and Range extension measured by GPS
  Normal fault animation

Haiti earthquake 10 years commemoration

January 12, 2010 was the devastating Haiti earthquake. Many are posting memories and thoughts about the event. Many others have higher quality scientific, engineering, and social science materials. I did not work on it directly but I developed a few slides for various lectures which referred to the event.

I recall a moving lecture on the event by Eduardo Fierro who had been there for post earthquake response. The video may still be accessible (I am struggling to see it here, but the PDF is available): PEER website. He made a strong point about what really caused the disaster: "The tragedy of this thing, you know, was that three days after the earthquake the city was littered with bodies and by God, we… this was not an earthquake disaster. This was a disaster caused by the construction industry in Haiti. The construction industry that did not know how to use codes, they did not have any codes, and the people that built these things, the building in very bad shape. These were the people that caused this tragedy and the loss of human life. In the past I have told people when I give talks: We have to design things and construct things and assume that our children, our grandchildren and our mother is going to be in this building when the earthquake hits. So we check all our numbers and do a proper design ." 01/26/2010, by Eduardo Fierro

I also was surprised by some of the news discussions about the relative magnitudes of the 2010 Haiti and Chilean earthquakes. The latter occured about 6 weeks after the Haiti event and was much larger. Some news reports talked about how the M8.8 Chile earthquake was 500x larger while others said 64x. Which was it? I set this up as a little exercise for my class

Here are all of the slides: PDF PPT

Propelling ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration

In May 2019, my colleague Prof. Meenakshi Wadhwa was appointed the Director of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration. This is a really good thing for SESE given Mini's many strengths and achievements and SESE's great potential in Earth and Space Sciences. I have continued my role as Deputy Director for SESE (I had done the same for our former Director Lindy Elkins-Tanton). It has been an honor to work for both Lindy and Mini. They are inspiring and effective leaders.

I too applied to be the Director and am very happy that Mini is the director. I put some energy into my application materials thinking about SESE and my own leadership experience and vision, so I have decided to post them here. If nothing else, it will help me find them quicker as I tend to refer to them occasionally.

• Curriculum Vitae as of February 8, 2019: LINK
• A Vision for the School of Earth and Space Exploration
• Presentation PPT PDF -- this was not so great in that I got sick on the second day of the interview and so it was delivered in a hoarse whisper! It was a sign probably that I could not hack it (the job that is; it was a stressful time).

Call for research papers: Unveiling Active Faults: Multiscale Perspectives and Alternative Approaches Addressing the Seismic Hazard Challenge

Along with Federica Ferrarini, Nathan Toké, and Michele M. C. Carafa, we are looking forward to submissions to this special "issue" from the Frontiers journal: Unveiling Active Faults: Multiscale Perspectives and Alternative Approaches Addressing the Seismic Hazard Challenge.

Federica made a nice flyer to share: LINK

Central Apennine settled landscape with active normal fault (photograph by Federica Ferrarini).

Despite decades of progress toward mitigating seismic hazard, characterizing the seismic potential of an area remains a complex process. Particularly challenging are seismically active regions characterized by low slip rate faults which can give rise to weak geomorphic expressions when combined with high erosion or sedimentation rates. Similar compounding issues may also manifest in densely populated areas where anthropogenic modifications, or vegetation cover further challenge assessment of fault activity or where structural complications may contribute to multiple interpretations. Noticeable advances in remote sensing technology geodetic measurements and dating Late Quaternary landforms and sediments have moved our understanding forward.

This Frontiers Research Topic welcomes contributions that present examples and approaches which strive to improve our understanding of active faulting processes over diverse geological settings and at broad spatial scales of investigation. We encourage the submission of research papers from a wide range of geoscience disciplines (field geology, structural geology, tectonic geomorphology, paleoseismology, seismology, remote sensing, numerical modeling) and from the scale of a field site to regional scale analyses. We welcome contributions with the main goal to bridge the gap between our observations, fundamental understanding of faulting processes, and effective seismic hazard assessment.

Please think about a contribution! Submit an abstract by January 29, 2020 (not required). The manuscripts are due May 29, 2020.