TCNJ Physics department professor Dr. Shannon Graham has recently published an article for the American Geophysical Union titled “A Global Set of Subduction Zone Earthquake Scenarios and Recurrence Intervals Inferred From Geodetically Constrained Block Models of Interseismic Coupling Distributions”. You can read the article in full by clicking on this link to the AGU official website. A brief summary of the research conducted for this article can be found below:
“In this study, we use results from a global tectonic and earthquake cycle model based on GPS measurements to estimate the locations and magnitudes of potential earthquakes on 16 of the world’s largest faults. Along these faults, two tectonic plates are coupled, or stuck together, to varying degrees causing the nearby portions of the plates to undergo distortion, which can be tracked using GPS. Studies of recent earthquakes suggest that slip occurred on the region of the fault that was stuck together prior to the earthquake. With this in mind, we use a model of global fault coupling to find regions where additional great earthquakes may occur. We suggest that nearly all of the world’s subduction zones, as well as the fault beneath the Himalayas, could produce a magnitude 9 or greater earthquake.”