Advancing geodesy in the U.S. Midcontinent: workshop report

Abstract

For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment-visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Suggested citation: Hamburger, M.W., Boyd, O.S., Calais, Eric, King, N.E., and Stein, S.A., 2014, Advancing geodesy in the U.S. Midcontinent-Workshop report: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014-1169. ISSN 2331ISSN -1258 Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms CEUS Executive SummaryThe workshop on "Advancing Geodesy in the U.S. Midcontinent" was held from October 31 to November 1, 2012, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The workshop included 28 participants from academia, government, and private-sector organizations that are involved in research on geodesy and earthquake hazards in the seismically active areas of the U.S. midcontinent (the region of relatively undeformed crust roughly between the Great Plains and Appalachian Mountains). The workshop was intended to provide guidance to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) internal and external Earthquake Hazards research programs in the U.S. midcontinent. The 2012 workshop was developed as a follow-up to the "Workshop on New Madrid Geodesy and Understanding Intraplate Earthquakes," held in Norwood, Massachusetts, in March 2011. The goal of the 2012 workshop was to provide specific recommendations to the USGS on priorities for infrastructure and research investments related to geodesy in the U.S. midcontinent. Participants were asked to share current research and proposals for future research plans, focusing on the following basic and applied science issues:• Fundamental processes guiding earthquake generation in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and surrounding regions, • Application of geodetic measurements to assessment of earthquake hazards, • Optimization of geodetic monitoring networks to constrain crustal deformation, and • Critical approaches in data analysis, modeling, and interpretation of geodetic data.Among the outcomes of the workshop was a consensus recommendation for expanding the density, quality, and duration of geodetic observations in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and surrounding regions of active intraplate seismicity in order to better understand processes driving seismogenesis. The recommendations focus on short-and intermediate-term expansion of continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring of crustal deformation in the midcontinent region, developed in three principal approache...

Crustal deformation in the New Madrid seismic zone and the role of postseismic processes

“…This modeling could be further refined to improve the fit to observations by considering nonuniform rupture and depth-dependent frictional properties, but the substantial observational uncertainty and limited number of GNSS sites make this additional analysis poorly constrained. We advocate for additional high quality recording sites in operation for at least 10 years [see, e.g., Boyd et al, 2013;Hamburger et al, 2014].…”