Earthquakes are caused when faults rupture, or move. Backhoes are used to excavate faults to determine how recent the fault activity occurred and if the activity can be related to known historical earthquakes.

If we know how often a fault has ruptured in the past, we can combine this with other data and possibly predict when and where future earthquakes will occur.

After the faults are excavated, the trenches are logged (below) to map the distribution of faults; the ages of deformed and undeformed layers are determined by C14 dating to provide a history of earthquakes on the fault. Excavating a trench across an active fault in Jamaica can show how and when earthquakes have displaced the rocks.

Key contact:
Paul Mann (email: paulm@ig.utexas.edu)

Image sources: Paul Mann and Will King