Ridgecrest earthquake sequence NCALM lidar datasets funded by USGS & NSF released

Mar 25, 2020

OpenTopography is pleased to announce the release of two new 2019 lidar datasets, collected by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) and funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF EAR-1945781 & EAR-1945754), covering 293 km2 of the region impacted by the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in southern California. The datasets cover a portion of the main surface fault ruptures of both of the M 6.4 and M 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, as well as the areas of non-tectonic ground deformation near Trona and Argus, CA including the fragile geological features called the Trona Pinnacles.  An additional portion of the surface fault rupture coverage area is expected to be made available pending its approval for public release.

Get the data:

GeomorphicOffset

Digital elevation model colored by elevation with 0.5 m contours, showing geomorphic features offset along part of the M 7.1 surface rupture SE of Hwy. 178

DEM with Fault Rupture Traces

Digital elevation model colored by elevation, with 0.5 m contours. Fault rupture traces from Kendrick et al. (SCEC 2019), Ponti et al. (SRL 2020, in press) & Dawson et al. (in prep.).

GeomorphicOffset

Perspective view over the Trona Pinnacles. Browser-based 3D point cloud visualization from OpenTopography. Note crossing laser scan lines.

Google Earth Screen Caputure of Ridgcrest DEM Screenshot of a DEM over a portion of the fault rupture with preliminary hand-digitization of visible scarps ( credit: Kenneth Hudnut , USGS) overlain on Google Earth Imagery. Click here to download the KMZ.

Citation:
Hudnut, K. W., B. A. Brooks, K. Scharer, J. L. Hernandez, T. E. Dawson, M. E. Oskin, J. Ramon Arrowsmith, C. A. Goulet, K. Blake, M. L. Boggs, S. Bork, C. L. Glennie, J. C. Fernandez-Diaz, A. Singhania, D. Hauser and S. Sorhus (2020). Airborne Lidar and Electro-Optical Imagery along Surface Ruptures of the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence, Southern California, Seismol. Res. Lett., doi: 10.1785/0220190338. (in press)