Christchurch liquefaction prone soils make rebuilding difficult |

September 20, 2011 rockman Geologic Hazards Comments Off on Christchurch liquefaction prone soils make rebuilding difficult |
Liquefaction damage in Christchurch, New Zealand

Liquefaction damage in Christchurch, New Zealand

This article notes that the combination of shallow water table and crummy soils make it difficult to rebuild safely in the Christchurch, New Zealand business district. Another interesting item mentioned in the article is that the report they are citing indicates that the high variability in liquefaction damage throughout the business district appears to correlate with the paleo channels beneath the city, where the loose, silty alluvial deposits near the old channels were the most susceptible to liquefaction, but the gravelly soils farther away were not. [Source: TVNZ. Image: TVNZ]

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What Would a Large Earthquake Do to Downtown L.A.?

November 7, 2008 rockman Geologic Hazards Comments Off on What Would a Large Earthquake Do to Downtown L.A.?

USGS LogoFrom the USGS Newsroom:

USGS scientist Ken Hudnut fills us in on how science created the theoretical magnitude 7.8 earthquake behind the Great Southern California ShakeOut—the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history, coming Nov. 13—and what such an earthquake would do to downtown Los Angeles.

Seems like they did it right wiith this study. They had multiple teams independenlty come up with the ground shaking model, then had different structural engineers who are experts in seismic design of large buildings review the tall buildings in the L.A. area for the design earthquake. They say that buildings would likely come down in the 7.8 magnitude event. Click through to watch the video interview from the USGS.

 

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