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Geologic Effects of the March 2020 M 5.7 Magna, Utah, Earthquake

Adam I. Hiscock, Emily J. Kleber, Greg McDonald, Rich Giraud, Ben Erickson, Jessica Castleton, Steve Bowman, Gordan Douglass, & Adam McKean

Published August 14, 2020, SCEC Contribution #10573, 2020 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #011 (PDF)

Poster Image: 
The March 18, 2020 M 5.7 Magna, Utah, earthquake was the most widely felt earthquake in an Intermountain West urban area in recent history. This normal-faulting earthquake occurred in the northwest part of Salt Lake Valley, home to over 1.2 million people or about one-third of Utah’s population. Immediately following the earthquake, the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) organized reconnaissance teams to collect perishable field data on the geologic effects from the earthquake and created an online digital clearinghouse (https://geodata.geology.utah.gov/pages/search.php?search=!collection609). Locations investigated included the general epicenter area, the Jordan River, the southeastern shore of Great Salt Lake, and the foothills of the Wasatch Range and Oquirrh Mountains. The observed geologic effects from the Magna earthquake include liquefaction-induced sand boils and lateral spreading, tension cracks, localized subsidence, syneresis cracking, and some possible small rockfalls. The most intense liquefaction was close to the shore of Great Salt Lake and near the epicenter. The clearinghouse was established to collect, archive, preserve, and distribute valuable data on the earthquake. We present the results of this reconnaissance work and add to the observations accompanying seismological data for modern earthquakes in the western United States.

Key Words
magna, earthquake, Utah, geologic effects, ground shaking, liquefaction, UGS

Citation
Hiscock, A. I., Kleber, E. J., McDonald, G., Giraud, R., Erickson, B., Castleton, J., Bowman, S., Douglass, G., & McKean, A. (2020, 08). Geologic Effects of the March 2020 M 5.7 Magna, Utah, Earthquake. Poster Presentation at 2020 SCEC Annual Meeting.


Related Projects & Working Groups
Earthquake Geology