SCEC Award Number 16027 View PDF
Proposal Category Workshop Proposal
Proposal Title Ventura Special Fault Study Area Workshop
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Scott Marshall Appalachian State University James Dolan University of Southern California Thomas Rockwell San Diego State University John Shaw Harvard University
Other Participants This is a workshop proposal. We expect ~60 participants.
SCEC Priorities 4a, 4b, 4e SCEC Groups USR, Geology, Geodesy
Report Due Date 10/10/2016 Date Report Submitted 11/02/2016
Project Abstract
 With the Ventura SFSA winding down in the next year, the time has come to bring together the most up-to-date and significant results and attempt to form a consensus view of the Ventura fault system and its associated hazards. To this end, we hosted a 1-day workshop on the Saturday before the annual SCEC meeting (9/10) in Palm Springs, CA. Workshop presentations focused on recent findings for the Ventura SFSA in the areas of near-surface and offshore geophysics, crustal struc-ture, geodesy, fault modeling, paleoseismology, tectonic geomorphology, seismology, and dynamic rupture and tsunami modeling. Each topical session consisted of invited oral presentations followed by significant time for constructive discussions.
Intellectual Merit As the SCEC Ventura SFSA project winds down, it is time to attempt to form a consensus view on the Ventura-Pitas Point fault and its associated hazards. The recent recognition of ~M8 earth-quakes in the geologic record was inconsistent with seismic hazard estimates at the time, but after several years of the Ventura SFSA project, we now have new constraints on this hazardous fault system. This project has been an excellent example of the strengths of SCEC in that geologists, geodesists, and seismologists have all been working together to better understand this fault system.
Broader Impacts This work has fostered collaborations between numerous existing SCEC researchers at various institutions, including significant contributions from graduate and undergraduate students. For exam-ple, SFSA funds partially supported geodetic research by an undergraduate student at Appalachian State University and graduate students at SDSU and UCR. Two graduate students gave talks at the workshop on their SFSA work.

Societal benefits will include the increased awareness of the seismic potential in the western Transverse Ranges, and specifically in the heavily urbanized coastal zone in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, which lie immediately over the Pitas Point-Ventura fault system. Knowledge transfer will be through published reports as well as direct interaction with City and County geologists, re-viewers and planners.
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