2026 SCEC Community Stress Drop Validation Workshop

Date: January 20, 2026
Location: Online via Zoom
Workshop Organizers: Annemarie Baltay (USGS), Rachel Abercrombie (Boston University)
SCEC Award: 25134

Summary

The Community Stress Drop Validation Study is a global community of researchers that always welcomes new members interested in reliable source parameter measurements. Our focus is understanding the physical controls and methodological reasons for similarity or differences in stress drops and other source characterization parameters, to enable more reliable use by the earthquake science community. Over the past four years, over 20 research groups have submitted stress drop estimates from the 2019 Ridgecrest Sequence common dataset, and many more have participated in analysis, workshops and community building. The results to date were recently published in a BSSA special issue on Improving Measurements of Earthquake Source Parameters. So far, we have demonstrated and quantified the uncertainties in methodological biases in stress drop estimates, and their possible magnitude and depth dependencies. Check here for more info and links to recent work and efforts!

The next step is for the community to investigate and test improved approaches and address the remaining unanswered questions, using a new empirical dataset and synthetic datasets. In this workshop, we will discuss ongoing work on new methods on both empirical and synthetic datasets, and discuss new data. We will also discuss future plans for an expanded community study.

Anyone who is interested in stress drops or source parameters, or their use and implication in other fields, is encouraged to attend! We welcome those from all research backgrounds at any stage of your career. As always, we will have multiple opportunities for discussion and participation.

January 20, 2026

Presentation materials may be viewed by clicking the links below. PLEASE NOTE: Files are the author’s property. They may contain unpublished or preliminary information and should only be used for reviewing the talk. Only the presentations for which SCEC has received permission to post publicly are included below.

TimeDescriptionPresenter
09:00 - 10:45Session I: Introduction and Ongoing Work (PDF)
We will hear a few invited talks on ongoing work, and then have time for contributed slides and discussion from the whole community on current progress. We are especially interested in how methods have evolved recently given feedback from the first stage of the Community Project.
Rachel Abercrombie, Annemarie Baltay
Earthquake Stress Drop values delineate spatial variations in maximum shear stress in the Japanese forearc lithosphere (PDF)Gian Maria Bocchini
Source parameters from fully constrained laboratory earthquakesSara Beth Cebry
Microearthquake stress drop and attenuation from borehole DAS at Cape Modern (PDF)Hilary Chang
Kinematic source characterization of micro-earthquakes induced in BedrettoLab fault activation experiments (PDF)Mariano Supino
10:45 - 11:00Break
11:00 - 12:30Session II: New Data Sets (PDF)
Presentations from community members on new empirical datasets and regions, with a discussion and perhaps a vote on what data to choose.
Systematic Seismic Rupture Responses to Background Loading: Insights from Source Time Functions of “Quasi-”Repeating Earthquakes (PDF)Keisuke Yoshida
Presentation of candidate datasets and group discussionColin Pennington, Rob Skoumal, Patricia Martínez-Garzón, Elizabeth Cochran, Peter Shearer, Daniel Trugman, Hao Guo
12:30 - 13:30Break
13:30 - 15:00Session III: Synthetics and looking forward (PDF)
We will hear about previous synthetic data analysis for earthquake stress drop or source parameters, and then a discussion of several stochastic and other simplistic datasets we will use for the Community Project.
Ongoing/completed synthetic dataset studyIan Vandevert, Jamie Neely, Chen Ji, Xiaowei Chen, Dino Bindi
Discussion of community synthetic datasetsDino Bindi, Annemarie Baltay, Peter Shearer, Rachel Abercrombie
Looking forward: SCEC, NSF, internationalRachel Abercrombie
15:00 - 15:30Wrap up and review of morning for those joining from other timezones and commitmentsRachel Abercrombie, Annemarie Baltay

SCEC-USGS Ridgecrest Stress Validation Study

Using a common dataset, researchers estimate stress drop from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence. As a community we will compare and validate the estimates to determine physical controls on stress drop variability. Current focus on 55 specific events. For more information, see the SCEC Technical Activity Group (TAG) for Community Stress Drop Validation Group 

Participants

First NameLast NameOrganization
RachelAbercrombieBoston University
ClaudiaAbrilLudwig-Maximilians-University of Munich
Byeong SeokAhnPukyong National University
AhmadAlhakimAgency of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics
TrevorAllenGeoscience Australia
SoleneAntoineCaltech
RalphArchuletaUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
EmmaArmstrongUtah State University
RichardAsirifiTexas A&M University
LucianaAstizNational Science Foundation
Andrea Attolico University of Rome La Sapienza
AdamBaigNanometrics
AnnemarieBaltayUSGS Earthquake Science Center
WalidBen MansourWashington University in Saint Louis
DinoBindiGFZ
Gian Maria BocchiniRuhr University Bochum
ChasBoltonUT-Austin
FelixBorleanu National Institute for Earth Physics
BrittanyBotellUniversity of Memphis
OliverBoydUSGS
SierraBoydBerkeley Seismology Lab
JanBurjánekInstitute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
MargauxBuscettiUppsala University
BirsenCanBogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute
RaulCastroCICESE
Sara BethCebryUSGS
HilaryChangLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
EstelleChaussardFM
XiaoweiChenTexas A&M University
SungwonChoPukyong National University
ElizabethCochranUSGS
FabriceCottonGFZ
JialingDaiKAUST
SiddharthDeyUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
HaoranDongEast China University of Technology
JinFangUniversity of Leeds
RezaFilizadehUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
George FrançaUniversidade de São Paulo
FrantišekGallovičCharles University in Prague
AthanassiosGanasNOA
SandroGomesUFRN
Gerard González Colombian Geological Survey
HaoGuoUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
RuthHarrisUSGS
GrégoireHellerCEA
DanielaHenriquesInstituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera
stephenhernandezIGEPN
GabrielleHobsonUniversity of California San Diego
JoannaHolmgrenNORSAR
XinrongHouUniversity of Tokyo
MartinHronekCharles University
ChenHuangNORSAR
NadineIgoninUniversity of Texas at Dallas
SeongJuJeongUniversity of Oklahoma
ChenJiUCSB
YuJiangUniversity of Nevada, Reno
NatoJorjiashviliIlia State University
LavJoshiCharles University
YoshiKanekoKyoto University
ÖzlemKaragözÇanakkale Onsekiz Mart University
TatianaKartsevaISTere, Grenoble
Chun-YuKeNational Taiwan University
DebiKilbScripps Institution of Oceanography
TreyKnudsonStanford University
DianaKonrádováGeophysical Institute Czech Academy of Science
Olga-JoanKtenidouNational Observatory of Athens
FabianKutscheraScripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
JiayanLiaoChina University of Geosciences
YajingLiuMcGill University
SemechahLuiUniversity of Toronto
BjörnLundUppsala University
Paul MartinMaiKAUST
SavvasMarcouUC Berkeley Seismology Lab
PatriciaMartinez GarzonGFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences
KevinMayedaAir Force Technical Applications Center
GregoryMcLaskeyCornell University
ChristipherMengesUSGS
JanMichalekInstitute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
FrancescoMosconiSapienza Università di Roma
SaharNazeriNaples Federico II university
JamieNeelyCotality
SherryNieTufts University
AdrienOthEuropean Center for Geodynamics and Seismology
ShwetaPandeyNGRI
MichaelPasyanosLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
AndresPena CastroUniversity of New Mexico
ColinPenningtonLawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Anica OtiliaPlacintaNational Institute for Earth Physics
Kenia Rodríguez CICESE
BadieRowshandelCalifornia Earthquake Authority
NatalieSchaalCalifornia State University, Northridge (CSUN)
HannahShabtianBrown University
Prof DayaShankerIndian Institute of Technology Roorkee
PeterShearerUC San Diego
LinShenInstitute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zheng-KangShenUCLA
ShuzhongShengEast China University of Technology
RobSkoumalUSGS
MinkyungSonKIGAM
Yu-ShengSunUniversity of Oregon
MarianoSupinoINGV
MuhammadTaimoorOGDCL
OnurTanIstanbul University - Cerrahpasa
Dhiroj ThapaTribhuvan University
YanfangTongEast China University of Technology
DanielTrugmanUNR
TakahikoUchideGeological Survey of Japan, AIST
LubicaValentova K.Charles University, Prague
Nicholasvan der ElstUSGS
Marcelvan LaatenFriedrich Schiller University Jena
IanVandevertScripps Institution of Oceanography
GiselaViegasNewmont Corporation
WilliamWalterLLNL
ShawnWeiMichigan State University
SamsulWiyonoBMKG
QiminWuLettis Consultants International
QishengXuDonghua University
TakujiYamadaIbaraki University
ShenghaoYangEast China University of Technology
YuchengYangCornell University
ClaraYoonUSGS
KeisukeYoshidaTohoku Univ.
NanaYoshimitsuKyoto University
YuehuaZengUSGS
SiyuanZhangOther
YurongZhangMichigan State University
ZhuoranZhangMichigan State University
JiangchengZhouPeking University
YueyiXuCEA
EdricPaukUSC/SCEC
ShuyuBaiEast China University of Technology

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