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Wayne R. Thatcher

Publications and source records attributed to Wayne R. Thatcher.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2000

Watching magma from space

Westdahl is a broad shield volcano at the western end of Unimak Island in the Aleutian chain. It has apparently been dormant since a 1991-92 eruption and seismicity levels have been low. However, satellite radar imaging shows that in the years following 1992 the upper flanks of Westdahl have risen several centimeters, probably from the influx of new magma deep below its summit. Until now, deep magma reservoirs have been difficult to detect beneath most volcanoes. But using space geodetic technologies, specifically interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), we have discovered a deep magmatic source beneath Westdahl.

Geotimes↗
USGS1998

The coseismic slip distributions of the 1940 and 1979 Imperial Valley, California, earthquakes and their implications

Geodetic arrays observed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey span the Imperial fault in southern California. For the 1940 M 7.1 Imperial Valley earthquake, a 1934–1941 triangulation network has sufficient resolution to allow inversion for the coseismic slip distribution on fault segments 5 to 25 km long extending from the surface to a depth of 9 km. The estimated right-lateral slip is 0.8 to 1.7 m on the northern 30 km of the main trace of the Imperial fault, 4.8±0.2 m on a 10-km-long segment straddling the United States - Mexico border, and 1.3±0.4 m on a southern 25-km-long segment in Mexico. Fixing this strike-slip model and inverting 1940 leveling data only for dip slip yields 0.1 m of east-side-down dip slip. The seismic moment for this model is M 0 = (3.2±0.3) ×10 19 N m. The 1979 geodetic data set, mostly elevation changes from leveling routes, has insufficient resolution for inversion. However, it is possible to use this geodetic data set and results published by others to infer that the 1940 and 1979 earthquakes may be similar on the rupture zone common to both events. Our preferred 1940 model is similar to the 1979 geodetic results of Crook [1984] on the segments where both networks have good resolution. Elevation changes from 1940 and 1979 leveling data are very similar. Thus the geodetic data corroborate the surface slip evidence of Sharp [1982b] that the 1940 and 1979 slip distributions are examples of “characteristic slip” on the northern Imperial fault.

California↗
USGS1998

Migration of fluids beneath Yellowstone caldera inferred from satellite radar interferometry

Satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar is uniquely suited to monitoring year-to-year deformation of the entire Yellowstone caldera (about 3000 square kilometers). Sequential interferograms indicate that subsidence within the caldera migrated from one resurgent dome to the other between August 1992 and August 1995. Between August 1995 and September 1996, the caldera region near the northeast dome began to inflate, and accompanying surface uplift migrated to the southwest dome between September 1996 and June 1997. These deformation data are consistent with hydrothermal or magmatic fluid migration into and out of two sill-like bodies that are about 8 kilometers directly beneath the caldera.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS1982

Triggering of large earthquakes by magma-chamber inflation, Izu Peninsula (Japan)

A close spatial and temporal association between three aseismic uplift episodes and subsequent large (M ≈ 7) earthquakes on the Izu Peninsula, Japan, suggests a causal relation. Quaternary geology, as well as studies by other workers, indicates a volcanic origin for the observed uplift, and we use a simple inflation model constrained by leveling data to compute the expected increments in normal and shear stress across faults that ruptured in the earthquakes. Using a Mohr-Coulomb criterion, we find that in two cases out of three, stress changes induced by inflation are in the correct sense to trigger failure. Although changes are no more than a few bars, they represent the equivalent of several decades to a century of secular stress buildup.

Izu Peninsula↗