Issues
Editor’s Preface
Editor’s Preface
EDITORS’ PREFACE In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the problem of earthquake generation in continental regions remote from plate boundaries or active tectonic zones. Consequently, an entire issue of Seismological Research Letters has been dedicated to this topic. It contains 27 papers and 9 abstracts representing the proceedings of the National Workshop on Seismogenesis in the Eastern United States. Workshop coconvenors Wang-Ping Chen and Leonardo Seeber introduce the issue with a summary of objectives, results and recommendations. We dedicate this issue to Dr. Otto Nuttli (1926 – 1988), the man who more than any other individual, focused attention on the topic of this Special Issue. Otto’s interest in earthquakes in continental interiors can be traced to a swarm of earthquakes that occurred in southern Illinois in 1965 (Lander, 1966). Otto attempted to calculate the magnitudes of these events from Wood-Anderson records of the Saint Louis University seismograph stations, but found that the Richter (1958) local magnitude equations for southern California did not apply to the central United States. He attributed this to a basic difference in anelastic attenuation between the central United States and southern California in his 1973 paper (Nuttli, 1973a) that introduced mbLg magnitude, based on the amplitude of the vertical component short-period Lg wave. Having determined the magnitude of a set of calibration events, he next developed techniques for estimating magnitudes of preinstrumental earthquakes using the distance decay of isoseismals (Nuttli, 1973b) and the felt area and maximum intensity (Nuttli and Zollweg, 1974). These . . . .
Introduction: Seismogenesis In The Eastern United States
This special volume of Seismological Research Letters is a collection of papers and abstracts presented at the National Workshop on Seismogenesis in the Eastern United States on April 12–13, 1988 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since plate tectonics does not provide a useful framework for studying deformation in plate interiors, intracratonic tectonism presents a major challenge to basic geoscience. The occurrence of large intracontinental earthquakes also poses complex problems for applied sciences in determining seismic risk and mitigating earthquake hazard. The main purpose of the workshop was to critically assess our current knowledge on intracontinental seismogenesis by comparing results and ideas from diverse disciplines related to this field of renewed interest in geoscience. The conference was also intended as a forum to make available the latest results and issues arising in this rapidly evolving research area to groups that interact within the field, such as earthquake engineers, policy makers, and funding agencies. The conference emphasized discussion on fundamental aspects regarding the tectonic origin of intracontinental earthquakes, and on planning and coordination of future research on intracontinental seismicity. A total of forty invited participants were present at the two-day conference. They represented a range of diverse interests that pertain to the study of seismicity in the eastern U. S., including earthquake seismology, solid-earth geophysics, tectonics, and structural geology. Throughout the workshop, there are two important themes that are reflected in the contents of this volume. First, given that some widely accepted views seem inconsistent with recent . . .
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