EERI Newsletter, June 2013 Vol. 47, Num. 6 NEWS OF THE INSTITUTE 10NCEE Conference: Paper Abstracts due June 15, 2013 The Tenth U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (10NCEE) in Anchorage, Alaska, July 21–25, 2014, will be held on the 50th Anniversary of the Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami. The theme for the conference is “Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering.” The 10NCEE will provide opportunities for researchers and practitioners EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING to share knowledge and inquiries for mitigating the damaging effects of RESEARCH INSTITUTE earthquakes and tsunamis. Concurrent knowledge- NEWSLETTER building events: the 2014 EERI Annual Meeting and Earthquake Engineering 2014 NEES Quakes Summit, Research Institute 499 14th Street, Suite 220 will take place as part of the Oakland, California 94612-1934 conference. phone: 510-451-0905 fax: 510-451-5411 Abstracts due June 15 email: [email protected] website: www.eeri.org Prospective authors are encouraged to submit Editor Mark Yashinsky abstracts for the 10NCEE. LFE Insert Editor Sarah Nathe A fault trace along the Denali fault. Photo by Dr. Richard Koehler. Associate Editor Gerald Brady You may submit your Editorial Manager My Davidson abstract online at http://submissions.miracd.com/10NCEE/login.aspx. More ISSN 0270-8337 information about this call for abstracts can be found at the 10NCEE website at Reproduction with attribution is permitted. www.10ncee.org. Technical Tours EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE The 10NCEE local organizing committee in Anchorage is preparing pre- conference and post-conference technical tours that will highlight Alaskan PRESIDENT scenery at http://10ncee.org/technical-tours/. Ian G. Buckle continued on page 2 PAST PRESIDENT L. Thomas Tobin VICE PRESIDENT 2013 EERI Technical Seminar Series: David A. Friedman PEER NGA-West2 Project SECRETARY-TREASURER Janiele Maffei This November, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the Pacific BOARD OF DIRECTORS Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER), and partner organizations Scott Ashford will hold their 2013 Technical Seminar Series focusing on the PEER NGA-West2 Ian G. Buckle Project. The seminar series will describe the NGA-West2 findings, discuss the Kenneth Elwood implementation of the new GMPEs and other research outcomes, and summarize David A. Friedman impacts on the earthquake engineering community. Roberto Leon Janiele Maffei PEER’s NGA-West2 Project, Phase 2 of the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) Kathleen Tierney relationships for shallow crustal earthquakes in active tectonic regions, is coordinated L. Thomas Tobin Ivan Wong by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) and financially supported by the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the California Department EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jay Berger of Transportation (Caltrans), and the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). continued on page 2 1 EERI Newsletter, June 2013 Vol. 47, Num. 6 10NCEE Conference: Paper Abstracts due June 15, 2013 continued from cover page the Northern Foothills Fold and Discover Alaska Thrust Belt. In addition to the extensive Technical tours, or field trips, will technical program, concurrent be developed over the summer • The “A Trip Back in Time: The events, and technical tours and finalized prior to the start of Mountains and Glaciers of planned for the 10NCEE, the city conference registration. Proposed Turnagain Arm and Portage of Anchorage in July will provide field trips include: Valley” technical tour is a half-day excursion along the plenty of sunshine and unique • The “Active Faults and Seismic Turnagain Arm, a glacial fjord local activities. Hazards in Central Alaska” located between the Chugach The 10NCEE local organizing technical tour provides and Kenai Mountains. committee, along with Visit memorable views of the • The “Earthquakes and Tsunamis Anchorage, created a list of their Susitna Basin, Alaska Range, in Alaska and Beyond” technical favorite things to see and do in Denali National Park, Tanana tour travels from Anchorage nearby areas of Alaska. Browse this Valley, Copper River Basin, north to the Matanuska-Susitna list and its accompanying photo and the Wrangell Mountains, Valley to visit and discuss gallery at http://10ncee.org/things- and includes stops along the examples of local damage from to-do-in-alaska/. Castle Mountain and Denali the 1964 M9.2 Great Alaska faults as well as the faults of Earthquake and Tsunami. 2013 EERI Technical Seminar Series: ANNOUNCEMENT PEER NGA-West2 Project Spectra Special continued from cover page; also see the overview of the NGA-West2 Project Issue on NGA-West2 article on page 6 and the NGA-West2 Database; the 2013 version of the U.S. National In August 2014, Earthquake Spectra NGA-West2’s products include Seismic Hazard Maps; design maps; (EQS) will publish a themed issue published reports describing the and applications of the NGA-West2 with manuscripts on the NGA- newly updated ground motion products, such as the Diablo Canyon West2 Project—the Phase 2 of prediction equations (GMPEs) and Nuclear Power Plant, and the effects the Next Generation Attenuation other research studies supporting of the updates on building design. (NGA) relationships for shallow GMPE development, along with crustal earthquakes in active the NGA-West2 Database Flatfile. Venues tectonic regions. Similar to the first phase, NGA- EERI’s 2013 Technical Seminars will West2 will have major impacts on take place in four cities in the first John Douglas and Steven Kramer the entire earthquake engineering weeks of November: will serve as guest editors for community. For example, the this special issue of the journal. USGS is reviewing the NGA-West2 • Salt Lake City, Utah If you have any questions, please GMPEs to consider their adoption • Long Beach, California contact Liz Hogan Stalnaker, EQS for the upcoming US National • Seattle, Washington, and Managing Editor, at [email protected]. Seismic Hazard Maps. Site-specific • San Francisco, California. Long-time EQS journal readers may applications will also be affected by remember the highly cited 341-page the NGA-West2 products. Registration for the 2013 Technical Seminar Series will open later this special issue of Earthquake Spectra Seminar Topics summer. If you have questions about 24:1 (February 2008) that presented Presentations for the 2013 the seminar series, email the Institute the principal results of Phase 1 of Technical Seminar Series, “PEER at [email protected]. the Next Generation Attenuation NGA-West2 Project,” include an (NGA) Relations Project. 2 EERI Newsletter, June 2013 Vol. 47, Num. 6 LEARNING FROM EARTHQUAKES M5.7 Earthquake Near Lake Almanor, California This article was written by Caltrans Damage near Lake Almanor and Studies are underway to determine geologist Martha Merriam. the nearby community of Greenville the source of the shaking, which included fallen chimneys, cracks occurred within a loosely defined The weekend-getaway location in walls, grocery shelves emptying, fault zone extending from of Lake Almanor in northeastern rupture of the main pipe from a Lake Tahoe to Oregon locally California was rocked May 23, 2013, community drinking water supply characterized by short, mostly shortly before 9 pm, by a M5.7 tank, and minor rock slides on nearby discontinuous faults with both earthquake. This earthquake was highways. P&GE’s Canyon Dam, lateral and dip slip components. located 11 km WNW of Greenville, which created Lake Almanor, was The fault nearest the activity is the CA and it occurred at 2013-05-24 inspected shortly after the main shock Indian Valley fault, which according 03:37.08 UTC (see Figure 1). The and found to be unaffected, as were to the California State Geologist, epicenter was at latitude 40.1895N, roads and bridges in the area that were Jim Parrish, is an early candidate for longitude 121.061W, and 11 km inspected by Caltrans workers. being the source of the activity. below the ground surface. It was followed by a normal sequence The main shock was felt unusually The Indian Valley fault has a of aftershocks totaling nearly 300 far from the epicenter throughout right-lateral strike-slip sense of events in the first two days after the the Sacramento Valley up to 150 displacement in a northwesterly initial shock with two aftershocks miles away, reflecting underlying direction, in agreement with focal having magnitudes of greater than 4 soft sedimentary materials which mechanisms developed for the main (see Figure 2). The last earthquake of amplify seismic waves, and in Nevada shock. Installation of additional this size in northeastern California and Oregon. Near the epicenter in a seismic recorders in this sparsely was the 1975 Oroville earthquake, mountainous region where the Sierra populated region of California which occurred on a different fault and Cascade Ranges come together, will likely lead to clarification of system located about 50 miles motion was reported as “violent” and the causative fault and associated southwest of this event. as a “giant jerk.” changes in stress which resulted in this earthquake. Figure 1. USGS Community Intensity Map, prepared Figure 2. Nearly 300 aftershocks with magnitudes about 1.5 and greater Saturday, May 25, 2013. Source: http://earthquake. occurred within two days of the main shock, the M5.7 earthquake near usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc71996906#dyf Lake Almanor. Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ 3 EERI Newsletter, June 2013 Vol. 47, Num. 6 LEARNING FROM EARTHQUAKES Mw 6.4 Shonbeh (Bushehr), Iran Earthquake Contributed by researchers from the fault, having a north-south strike with International Institute of Earthquake a NNW-SSE trend. The fault segment is Engineering and Seismology (IIEES) known to be about 100km long, and is in Tehran, and the Persian Gulf located in the east of the Mond anticline. University in Bushehr. The members of this joint reconnaissance team started their study on April 9, 2013, and made a visit to the epicentral region on April 14, 2013. Introduction At 11:52 UTC (16:22 local time), April 9, 2013, a Mw 6.4 earthquake Figure 2.