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Topography reveals seismic hazard

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 485–487 (2008)Cite this article

The devastating earthquake in the Chinese province of Sichuan struck an area that was not expected to suffer seismic activity of such magnitude. Yet topographic analyses of the region indicate active deformation, suggesting a way of refining maps of earthquake risk elsewhere.

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Figure 1: Rugged topography of the Sichuan region of China.

WILL OUIMET

Figure 2: Tectonic and geomorphic setting of the 12 May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

References

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Acknowledgements

Our work in Sichuan was spearheaded by colleagues at MIT and supported by funding from the Continental Dynamics program at NSF. It benefitted from collaboration with researchers from the Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, particularly Z. Chen. Subsequent work by E.K. on active faults in eastern Tibet was conducted collaboratively with E. Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and supported by the Tectonics program at NSF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Penn State University, University Park, 16802, Pennsylvania, USA

    Eric Kirby & Nathan Harkins

  2. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85284, Arizona, USA

    Kelin Whipple

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Kirby, E., Whipple, K. & Harkins, N. Topography reveals seismic hazard. Nature Geosci 1, 485–487 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo265

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