[iris-bulk] AGU Special Session on Non-Volcanic Earthquake Swarms

[Glenn Biasi]

Dear Colleagues:

We would like to draw your attention to a special session on 
non-volcanic earthquake swarms being convened for the Fall 2008 AGU 
Meeting.  The recent earthquake swarm west of Reno, Nevada, heightened 
interest into what is known about this and similar swarms, why they seem 
different from conventional foreshock-mainshock-aftershock profiles, 
what other observations, including geodesy, fault modeling, and fault 
physics, might illuminate their occurrence and phenomenology.  The 
complete session description is given below.  If you have worked on the 
recent swarm or another of potential interest, we encourage you to share 
your results with the community.

Please share this announcement with other colleagues who might find this 
special session of interest.  If you have any questions about the 
session itself, please contact us.

The online abstract deadline is September 10th, at:

http://submissions3.agu.org/submission/entrance.asp

We look forward to seeing you at AGU!


Glenn Biasi   (glenn at seismo.unr.edu)
Steve Walter (swalter at usgs.gov)

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S17: Observations and Phenomenology of Non-Volcanic Earthquake Swarms 
Sponsor: Seismology

CoSponsor: Geodesy

Conveners:  Glenn Biasi, University of Nevada Reno, glenn at seismo.unr.edu
             Steve Walter, U.S. Geological Survey, swalter at usgs.gov

Description:  In this session we invite presentations developing the 
observational and physical bases of non-volcanic crustal earthquake 
swarms. Swarms are recognized as an extended series of small to moderate 
earthquakes, often with no one principal or controlling event. 
Earthquake occurrence in volcanic regions is often swarm-like, but 
swarms are less frequent where regional deformation drives seismicity. A 
notable swarm of earthquakes began February 28, 2008 in the community of 
Mogul, just west of Reno, Nevada. Hundreds of events have occurred in 
the first three months. Activity has been monitored by broadband and 
strong-motion seismic stations, continuous GPS measurements, infrasound, 
and geologic investigation. This swarm has raised questions including 
why swarms occur where they do, what governs their unusual temporal 
behavior, are the fault physics of swarms somehow different from 
conventional faults, and what drives them in the first place. We invite 
multi-disciplinary contributions developing the phenomenology of 
non-volcanic earthquake swarms. Observational reports could describe the 
location, duration, and energy release pattern of earthquake swarms. 
Correlations with other geological observations and with geophysical 
measurements such as geodetic and infrasound observations are solicited, 
especially as they bear on the causes and common properties of 
earthquake swarms. Papers presenting physical and friction models are 
solicited that could explain why swarms seem to differ in seismicity and 
energy release from classic mainshock-aftershock behavior.

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