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March 18, 2009
UNLV researchers have completed the first-ever three-dimensional seismic hazard map of the Las Vegas Valley-a tool that could soon be used to aid local officials in disaster relief planning, land development planning and assessment of existing infrastructure in the event of an earthquake.
Nevada is the nation's third most seismically active state, with faults capable of producing a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake locally. With a large variety of subsurface sediments in the Las Vegas Basin, Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering Associate Professor Barbara Luke and in interdiciplinary team of UNLV faculty and students tested soils from dozens of locations throughout the Las Vegas Valley to find out how energy from an earthquake is amplified through the different sediments that exist in the basin.
Through extensive field testing, analysis of more than 160 existing seismic site classification filed with local governments agencies, and interpretation of more than 1,600 well logs, the team created a preliminary three-dimensional shear-wave velocity map. The map, by indentifying the speed at which waves move through the different types of sediment (clay, sand, gravel, etc.), allows researchers to better understand the potential of ground movement during an earthquake.
"Quote from Barbara Luke about the importance of study/map, the next step, and how earthquake preparedness is very important in Nevada."
Luke and colleagues Aly Said (engineering) and Wanda Taylor (sciences) were awarded a multi-year grant from the U. S. Department of Energy, titled Earthquakes in Southern Nevada, to in part determine which areas of the basin would be most susceptible should a major earthquake occur. One of the key findings leading to the creation of the map is that ground motions are amplified in the region due to the clay-rich sediments that make up much of the basin floor, thus increasing the seismic hazard.
A detailed explanation of the creation of the map appeared in the November 2008 issue of Leading Edge, an official publication of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. For a comprehensive look at the Earthquakes in Southern Nevada project, please visit http://earthquakes.unlv.edu
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