U.S. Geological Survey: Karen Felzer

Karen Felzer

Karen Felzer is a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow in the Earthquake Hazards program. She is advised by Dr. Ned Field and Professor Tom Jordan. Karen's previous position was as a postdoc at UCLA with Professor Emily Brodsky. She did her graduate work in the seismology group at Harvard University with Professor Göran Ekström in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Professor Jim Rice in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She did her undergraduate work in geophysics at Stanford University with Greg Beroza. Her research involves using statistical techniques to study the physics of earthquake interaction. This has included work on long distance triggering of aftershocks by small earthquakes, stress shadows (or the lack thereof), foreshocks, multiplets, and secondary aftershocks. Karen has also done work on fault discontinuities and tsunamagenic earthquakes (please see papers below).

Free computer programs for download

NEW!!! Stochastic/ETAS aftershock and earthquake catalog simulation program for matlab users!
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Papers and Abstracts

Submitted and In Press

Hardebeck, Jeanne L., Karen R. Felzer, and Andrew J. Michael, Rigorous Observational Tests Contradict the Accelerating Moment Release Hypothesis, Journal of Geophysical Research, submitted, 2007.
article in pdf

Please check back soon for additional preprints! Coming up: Papers on the June 2005 Anza and Yucaipa earthquakes (with Debi Kilb), Dynamic triggering of aftershocks (with Joan Gomberg), The calculation of the Gutenberg-Ricther b value, and the independence between the amount of stress change and an aftershock's timing. Several of these projects have been presented at conferences, and abstracts are posted (see below).

Publications

Felzer, K. R. and E. E. Brodsky, Decay of aftershock density with distance indicates triggering by dynamic stress, Nature , 441, 735-738, 2006.
We are now allowed to post self-formatted copies of this paper!
article in pdf
Supplementary Figures

If you have a personal or institutional subscription to Nature you can access the published version of the paper here

Felzer, K. R., and E. E. Brodsky, Testing the stress shadow hypothesis, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B05S09, doi:1029/2004JB003277, 2005.
abstract in html
article in pdf

Felzer, K. R., R. E. Abercrombie, and G. Ekström, A Common Origin for Aftershocks, Foreshocks, and Multiplets, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am. , 94, 88-99, 2004.
abstract in html
article in pdf

Felzer, K. R., R. E. Abercrombie, and G. Ekström, Secondary aftershocks and their importance for aftershock prediction, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 93, 1433-1448, 2003.
abstract in html
article in pdf

Felzer, K. R., T. W. Becker, R. E. Abercrombie, G. Ekström, and J. R. Rice, Triggering of the 1999 Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake by aftershocks of the 1992 Mw 7.3 Landers earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 2190, doi:10.1029/2001JB000911, 2002.
abstract in html
article in pdf

Abercrombie, R. E., Antolik, M. A., Felzer, K. R., and G. Ekström, G., The 1994 Java earthquake: slip over a subducting seamount, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 6595-6608, 2001. abstract

Felzer, K. R., and G. C. Beroza, Deep Structure of a fault discontinuity, Geophysical Res. Letters, 26, 2121-2124, 1999. web link

Conference Abstracts

Click here for a list and links!

Online Talks

SCEHAP Conference, 2007:
Universality of the Gutenberg-Richter Relationship

CalTech SeismoLab Seminar, January 2007:
The Wonderful World of Aftershocks

American Geophysical Union Meeting 2006:
Calculating the Gutenberg-Richter b Value

American Geophysical Union Meeting 2005:
Stress Change Amplitude Does Not Affect Aftershock Timing

Seismological Society of America Meeting 2005:
Decay rate of aftershock density with distance from the mainshock
Covers observations and physical implications of aftershock spatial decay

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 2002:
"A Common Origin for Aftershocks, Foreshocks, and Multiplets"

Teaching Experience

Lecturer for summer school at UCLA: ESS 8, Earthquakes Course website

Grad School Teaching Experience
Fall 2001 Head Teaching Fellow for Professor Göran Ekström for Science A43, Environmental Risks and Disasters .
Fall 2000 Teaching Fellow for Science A43
Fall 1999 Teaching Fellow for Science A43
Spring 1999 Teaching Fellow for Earth and Planetary Sciences 6: Introduction to Environmental Science: The Solid Earth, with Professor Göran Ekström

kfelzer at gps.caltech.edu

office phone: 626-583-7822

U. S. Geological Survey, 525 S. Wilson, Pasadena, CA 91106

Work in progress items, for pick-up by co-authors only!! thank you!