A Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis of Rockfall Distributions from the 5 July 2019 Ridgecrest (MW7.1) and 24 June 2020 Owens Lake (MW5.8) Earthquakes

A Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis of Rockfall Distributions from the 5 July 2019 Ridgecrest (MW7.1) and 24 June 2020 Owens Lake (MW5.8) Earthquakes

Blog Article

We examine the coseismic influence of the 5 July 2019, MW7.1 Ridgecrest and the 24 June 2020 MW5.8 Owens Lake earthquakes on rockfall distributions in two undisturbed high-altitude areas of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA.These events occurred within the geologically recent (2), the significantly lower magnitude Owens Lake event Dryer Fan Bearing produced nearly twice as many (102) mappable rockslides as the significantly stronger Control Panel Trim Ridgecrest event (58), a difference likely due to slope oversteepening in the formerly glaciated area.

Significant seismic amplification by topography and reactivation of preexisting failures was apparent for both areas.Inclusion of these factors may improve failure predictions and rockfall probability estimation.