Ridgecrest field photos and metadata from Wagon Wheel Staging Area, California
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Strong seismic waves from the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California, earthquakes displaced rocks in proximity to the M7.1 mainshock fault trace at several locations. In this report we document large boulders that were displaced at the Wagon Wheel Staging Area (WWSA), approximately 4.5 km southeast of the southern terminus of the large M6.4 foreshock rupture and 9 km southwest of the nearest approach of the M7.1 mainshock surface rupture. Some boulders appear to have slid along essentially flat surfaces, which suggests that dynamic stresses overcame the coefficient of friction. Other boulders appear to have rocked within their sockets. In both cases, we use simple mechanical models to estimate total peak dynamic accelerations between 0.5 and 1 g, commensurate with modified Mercalli intensity 9. It is unclear if the strongest shaking at this location occurred during the large M6.4 foreshock (hereafter “the large foreshock”) or the M7.1 mainshock. The inferred accelerations are higher than predicted mainshock ground motions at WWSA, although local high accelerations could have been generated by path, site, or source effects. Gaps between boulders and their sockets are easily visible in the immediate aftermath of earthquakes and provide a quick indication of strong shaking. More importantly, the gaps quickly fill with surficial debris. Boulders may thus potentially be extracted to examine gap fillings associated with past earthquakes, providing a new datable paleoseismic method.
Description
| Type of resource | software, multimedia |
|---|---|
| Date created | 2020 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Sleep, Norman |
|---|---|
| Author | Hough, Susan |
Subjects
| Subject | Strong ground motions |
|---|---|
| Subject | fragile geological features |
| Subject | paleoseismology |
| Subject | boulder sockets |
| Subject | Ridgecrest earthquakes |
| Genre | Dataset |
Bibliographic information
| Related Publication | Norman H. Sleep and Susan E. Hough (2020) Mild displacements of boulders during the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquakes. Bulletin Seismological Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120200029; SCEC publication number 10060. |
|---|---|
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/tm319hn6368 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Norman H. Sleep and Susan E Hough (2020) Field photos from Wagon Wheel Staging Area showing rocks moved during the 2020 Ridgecrest, California, Earthquakes, https://purl.stanford.edu/tm319hn6368
Collection
Stanford Research Data
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- Contact
- norm@stanford.edu
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