Displacements and stress-field changes associated with earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and human activity are often simulated using numerical models in an attempt to understand the underlying processes and their governing physics. The application of elastic dislocation theory to these problems, however, may be biased because of numerical instabilities in the calculations. Here, we present a…

We present an extension of the nodal discontinuous Galerkin method for elastic wave propagation to high interpolation orders and arbitrary heterogeneous media. The high-order lagrangian interpolation is based on a set of nodes with excellent interpolation properties in the standard triangular element. In order to take into account highly variable geological media, another set of suitable quadra…

A new effective model is presented to compute horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios (HVSR) relative to ambient vibrations, under the assumption that these are originated by a distribution of spatially correlated random surface sources. The major novelty of this model lies in the description of both ground displacement and sources as stochastic fields defined on the Earth’s surface, stationar…

Recent first principles calculations of the Earth’s outer core thermal and electrical conductivities have raised their values by a factor of three. This has significant implications for geodynamo operation, in particular, forcing the development of a stably stratified layer at the core–mantle boundary (CMB). This study seeks to test the hypothesis of a stably stratified layer in the upperm…

Using dynamic rupture models of a right-lateral fault embedded in an elastic or elastoplastic 3-D medium, we investigate elastic and inelastic responses of compliant fault zones to nearby earthquake ruptures. We particularly examine effects of fault zone depth, width, shape and rigidity reduction on the surface displacement field. Our results from elastic models show that deeper and wider faul…

The downward continuation of the observed geomagnetic field from the Earth’s surface to the core–mantle boundary (CMB) is complicated due to induction and diffusion processes in the electrically conducting Earth mantle, which modify the amplitudes and morphology of the geomagnetic field. Various methods have been developed to solve this problem, for example, the perturbation approach by Be…

A general method of solution for the runup evolution and some analytical results concerning a more general bathymetry than a canonical sloping beach model are presented. We studied theoretically the water wave elevation and runup generated on a continuous piecewise linear bathymetry, by solving analytically the linear shallow water wave equations in the 1+1 dimensional case. Non-horizontal line…

We obtain 3-D Vp and Vp/Vs from 8 to 70 km depth along the northern Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand, where the downdip limit of interseismic coupling is shallower than 15 km, and where both large shallowslow-slip events (SSEs) and small deep SSEs have been observed. Onshore–offshore marine-seismic data were incorporated, which greatly improved constraint of shallow velocities and the …

We investigate the validity of a proposed generalized Omori–Utsu law for the aftershock sequences for the Landers, Hector Mine, Northridge and Superstition Hills earthquakes, the four largest events in the southern California catalogue we analyse. This law unifies three of the most prominent empirical laws of statistical seismology—the Gutenberg–Richter law, the Omori–Utsu law, and a ge…

This article adopts a ‘cultural biography’ approach to the examination of an archaeological collection from Arica, Chile, involving two museums located in Gothenburg, Sweden. It provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the collection and how the meanings and contexts of a cranium belonging to this collection have changed over time. Different stages in the biography of the craniu…