Joint ASCE Seattle Section / Structural Engineers Association of WA Group Meeting 

Earthquakes in Western Washington: History and Risk

by Brian Sherrod

Schedule:

17:30 - Welcome
17:40 - Networking - Break Out Rooms
17:50 - Sections Announcements
18:00 - Networking - Break Out Rooms
18:10 - Presentation
18:55 - Closing
19:00 - Adjourn

Abstract

Research on past earthquakes shows that at least 28 large earthquakes struck the Fraser-Puget Lowland over the last 16,000 years on 13 fault zones, including five reverse faults zones (Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham, and Boulder Creek fault zones), and four oblique fault zones (Leech River, Canyon River-Saddle Mountain, Southern Whidbey Island, Darrington-Devil’s Mountain, north Olympic fault zones).  Understanding the locations of active faults, and the general history of activity, is an important aspect of most civil engineering projects.

Speaker

Brian Sherrod is Project Chief and Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and is based out of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.  He received a B.S. in Geology from James Madison University in Virginia, a M.S. in Geology from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Washington.  His main area of research is paleoseismology of the Pacific Northwest – finding evidence of past earthquakes in the PNW using the geologic record. Most of his work employs airborne laser surveys – he is currently working on evidence for large earthquakes along faults in central and western Washington and coastal uplift along the Pacific and Juan de Fuca coasts of the Olympic Peninsula.

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