State of the Art for Assessing Earthquake Hazards in the United States. Report 5. Plate Tectonics and Earthquake Assessment,
Abstract
The emerging theory of plate tectonics, embodying continental drift, seafloor spreading, transform faults, subduction of lithospheric plates, and other basic tenets, provides earth scientists with a reasonably coherent and workable explanation of the occurrence and distribution of earthquakes. It explains the tectonic origin of belts of major seismic activity throughout the United States and provides a consistent pattern into which focal mechanisms of major earthquakes can be fitted. It provides a framework into which a wide variety of observations of geology and geophysics can be assimilated. In short, it is a unifying concept long sought by earth scientists.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA023967
Entities
People
- Jack L. Walper