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Global Seismicity Map (Barazangi and Dorman,
Seismicity and Active Faults of Southern California
It has been common practice since the early days of seismology to plot the location of
earthquake epicenters on maps and to determine the size of earthquakes. The size and spatial
distribution of earthquakes holds clues to the mechanical nature of the faults that produce the
earthquakes. It is the faults and attendant earthquakes that are largely responsible for
deformation of the earth’s crust. As well, it is the earthquakes that define seismic hazard. Some
of our investigations into the link between active faults, seismicity, crustal deformation, and
seismic hazard are detailed in the papers below.
Wesnousky, S. G. (2001) The history of earthquakes in California and the role of neotectonics in the study of
fault mechanics and seismic hazard, in El Eiesgo Sismico. Prevencion Y Seguro, editors: Capote del Villar, R.
and Martinez Diaz, J., Fundacion General, Universidad Complutense Madrid, 53 – 68.
Wesnousky, S. G. Crustal Deformation Processes and the Stability of the Gutenberg-Richter Relationship,
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 89, 1131-1137, 1999.
Anderson, J. G., Wesnousky, S. G., and M. W. Stirling (1996), Earthquake Size as a Function of Fault Slip
Rate, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 86,
683-691.
*Stirling, M. W., S. G. Wesnousky, and K. Shimazaki (1996), Fault Trace Complexity, Cumulative Slip, and
the Shape of the Magnitude-frequency Distribution for Strike-slip faults: a global survey, Geophysical Journal
International, 124, 833-868.
Wesnousky, S. G., The Gutenberg-Richter or Characteristic Earthquake Distribution, Which is it? (1994)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 84, 1940-1959.
Wesnousky, S.G. (1990), Seismicity as a Function of Cumulative Geologic Offset: Some Observations from
Southern California, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 80, 1374-1381, 1990.
Wesnousky, S.G. (1988), Seismological and Structural Evolution of Strike-Slip Faults, NATURE, 335, 340343.
Wesnousky, S. G., C. H. Scholz, and K. Shimazaki (1983), Earthquake Frequency Distribution and the
Mechanics of Faulting, J. Geophys. Res., 88, 9331-9340.