Webinar: Earthquake Hazards in California, a Practical Approach

Presented by Dr. Alan Hull, Golder

We are working through our Annual Conference speakers bringing their prepared presentations to you via webcast. Dr. Hull was scheduled to present this topic at our Annual Conference this past April that was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is almost 50 years since the California Legislature passed the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act in response to the damage from the 1971 San Fernando earthquake and surface fault rupture. While California’s strict zoning and regulatory responses have not been replicated elsewhere in the world, governments and key industries have developed standards and guidelines to try and mitigate the effects of both strong shaking and surface fault rupture on seismically active faults. In parallel, science has greatly increased our understanding of the earthquake source mechanics, source-to-site path and shallow soil effects, and the ways to capture uncertainties into predictive models.
This presentation will use examples from the western USA and California to illustrate how earthquake and related hazards are incorporated into every-day engineering projects.

Following a brief summary of earthquake fundamentals, illustrated examples will explore how earthquake ground motions are quantified, and then captured into project design criteria, including how uncertainties can be incorporated into probabilistic and deterministic analyses. Examples will show the variety of regulatory approaches used within and beyond California; and explore the needs of engineers and regulators from ongoing scientific inquiry.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Alan Hull is a Senior Practice Leader at Golder Associates in Portland, OR. Alan is a California-registered engineering geologist who focuses on paleoseismology, earthquake hazard assessment and incorporating the effects from seismically active faults into engineering analysis and design. Prior to joining Golder, Irvine CA in 2001, Alan spent 20 years with the New Zealand Geological Survey (now GNS Science) undertaking basic and applied paleoseismic research from fault trenching and marine terrace studies. His consulting assignments for mining, oil and gas, government, and utility clients have been to understand and quantify the hazards from potentially seismogenic faults, probabilistic seismic hazard analyses (PSHA); and the engineering geology at sites in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, North and South America; and the South Pacific. Alan has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous client-focused reports. Alan was a member of the 2016-2018 Expert Panel supporting the update of California Geological Survey SP 42-- Earthquake Fault Zones: A Guide for Government Agencies, Property Owners/Developers, and Geoscience Practitioners for Assessing Fault Rupture Hazards in California.

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