HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nazareth, J. J. Articles by Hauksson, E. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

The Seismogenic Thickness of the Southern California Crust

Seismological Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California 91125

The average seismogenic thickness, measured from the surface down to maximum depth of earthquake rupture, for the southern California crust is 15.0 km (+1.2/–1.1 km). We determine the seismogenic thickness using the depth distribution of the seismic moment release of 19 years of seismicity. We calibrate the depth distribution of moment release from background seismicity by comparing the maximum depth of rupture during moderate- to large-magnitude earthquakes to the premainshock background seismicity of the respective mainshock region. The calibration shows that the depth above which 99.9% of the moment release of background seismicity occurs reliably estimates the maximum depth of rupture during moderate to large earthquakes. Locally, the seismogenic thickness is highly variable, ranging from less than 10 km in the Salton Trough to greater than 25 km at the southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley. Similarly, the seismogenic thickness along the major strike-slip faults can vary significantly along strike. Changes in seismogenic thickness along strike do not correspond to the mapped surface segmentation of the major southern California strike-slip fault systems. In the future, such estimates of the seismogenic thickness can be used to refine existing seismic-hazard estimates for southern California.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. T. Aagaard, T. M. Brocher, D. Dolenc, D. Dreger, R. W. Graves, S. Harmsen, S. Hartzell, S. Larsen, K. McCandless, S. Nilsson, et al. Ground-Motion Modeling of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Part II: Ground-Motion Estimates for the 1906 Earthquake and Scenario Events Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 2008; 98(2): 1012 - 1046. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. Meigs, M. L. Cooke, and S. T. Marshall Using Vertical Rock Uplift Patterns to Constrain the Three-Dimensional Fault Configuration in the Los Angeles Basin Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, February 1, 2008; 98(1): 106 - 123. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Plesch, J. H. Shaw, C. Benson, W. A. Bryant, S. Carena, M. Cooke, J. Dolan, G. Fuis, E. Gath, L. Grant, et al. Community Fault Model (CFM) for Southern California Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, December 1, 2007; 97(6): 1793 - 1802. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. H. Sibson Au-quartz mineralization near the base of the continental seismogenic zone Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2007; 272(1): 519 - 532. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. Hauksson and P. Shearer Southern California Hypocenter Relocation with Waveform Cross-Correlation, Part 1: Results Using the Double-Difference Method Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, June 1, 2005; 95(3): 896 - 903. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]