Students completed two in-class exercises, one related human-triggered seismicity and one related to nuclear explosion seismology.
Author Archives: Charles J. Ammon
Class Summary – 25 Apr – Dr. Mark Woods of AFTAC
Dr. Mark Woods of AFTAC (Air Force Technical Applications Center) virtually visited the class to discuss his work related to monitoring underground nuclear explosions.
Class Summary – 22 Apr – Nuclear Explosions and Seismology
Happy Earth Day.
I reviewed some science and history of nuclear explosions and described the relationship between nuclear weapons testing and seismology.
Class Summary – 20 Apr – Human Triggered Seismicity II
I finished the lectures on human-triggered seismicity. No in-class exercise.
Class Summary – 18 Apr – Human Triggered Seismicity I
I introduced the ideas behind human triggered seismicity.
Class Summary – 15 Apr – Earthquake Early Warning with Sarah Minson
Sarah Minson visited class virtually and presented some important, interesting, and subtle aspects of “earthquake” early warning system performance and possibilities.
Class Summary – 13 Apr – Earthquake Early Warning
I discussed earthquake early warning systems and students completed an in-class exercise related to the potential time available for warning using simulations of two California earthquake scenarios.
Class Summary – 11 Apr – Forecasting Earthquakes & Shaking
Students completed (or at least started) two in-class exercises, one about the historical patterns of earthquakes in northern Turkey, the other on the likely shaking to occur near Istanbul when the next earthquake strikes.
Class Summary – 08 Apr – EQ Prediction
I talked about earthquake prediction and forecasting. No in-class activity today.
Class Summary – 06 Apr – EQ Hazards
I talked about earthquake hazards and risk and earthquake hazard estimation.
Students completed an in-class exercise on the rate of earthquake occurrence in Iran.
Class Summary – 04 Apr – EQ Effects: Resonance
I talked about shaking buildings and resonance. No in-class activity.
Class Summary – 01Apr – EQ Effects on Landscapes
I talked about fault scarps, uplift and subsidence, landslides, and liquefaction. All earthquake-related hazards, and all provide clues to historic and pre-historic earthquakes in the landscape.
Students completed an in-class exercise related to Forecasting Landslides and Liquefaction (see Canvas).
Class Summary – 30 Mar – Historical EQ Fatalities
I reviewed the history of earthquake catastrophes and the patterns in earthquake fatalities over the last few hundred years.
Students completed an in-class activity on forecasting the number of earthquakes into the future. The exercise is available on Canvas.
Class Summary – 28 Mar – Earthquake Damage Case Studies
I reviewed the impact of shaking on human-built structures, presenting examples of the types and amount of damage that the strong shaking near a strong earthquake can produce.
No in-class exercise.
Class Summary –25 Mar – Exam
Exam