EAR-PF: Geologic Age Constraints for Seismic Hazard Assessment of Critical National Infrastructure

Dylan Rood博士被授予NSF地球科学博士后奖学金，在欧文市的加州大学开展研究和教育计划。这项工作将为地震危险性分析开发一种变革性的新工具。本次调查的目的是使用现场产生的宇宙成因同位素（10Be），产生一个暴露年龄的数据集，以及特征地质特征（不稳定平衡的岩石，PBRs）。成功测定PBR的年代将使来自古代地震的地面运动在没有观测数据的时间尺度上受到限制。该年表将与每个PBR的基于物理学的未超出地面运动估计进行合成，并与现有的灾害地图进行比较。结果将验证地面运动模型，并显着减少地震危险性估计的不确定性，反过来，提供了坚实的科学基础，概率地震危险性assessment.PBRs有可能被应用到地震危险性分析的范围广泛的国家的关键基础设施（如建筑物，桥梁，水坝等）。具体而言，改进地震危险性分析将大大有助于政府监管机构成功地为敏感结构（如核电厂）颁发许可证。该项目还将通过指导和教学经验支持一名青年科学家的职业发展。每年，该研究员将在欧文市的加州大学教授自然灾害这一通识教育课程。课程主题包括地质灾害，包括地震和重大气候变化。这项研究和教学战略将有助于该研究员成为地球科学领域的科学家和教育家。

Dr. Dylan Rood has been awarded an NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a research and education plan at the University of California, Irvine. This work will develop a transformational new tool for earthquake hazard analysis. The goal of this investigation is to produce a dataset of exposure ages for well-characterized geologic features (precariously balanced rocks, PBRs) using in-situ produced cosmogenic isotopes (10Be). Successful dating of PBRs will allow ground motions from ancient earthquakes to be constrained over timescales for which observational data do not exist. This chronology will be synthesized with physics-based unexceeded ground motion estimates for each PBR and compared to existing hazard maps. The results will validate ground motion models and significantly reduce uncertainty in earthquake hazard estimates, in turn, providing a firm scientific basis for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment.PBRs have potential to be applied to seismic hazard analysis for a wide range of the nation's critical infrastructure (e.g. buildings, bridges, dams, etc.). Specifically, improved seismic hazard analysis would greatly assist government regulators in successfully licensing sensitive structures (e.g. nuclear power plants). This project will also support the career development of a young scientist through mentorship and teaching experience. Each year the fellow will teach Natural Disasters, a general education course at University of California, Irvine. Course topics include geologic hazards, including earthquakes and major climate changes. This research and teaching strategy will help prepare the fellow for a career as a scientist and educator in the Earth sciences.