LOGAN – Research underway at Utah State University has revealed significant clues about the Wasatch Fault’s earthquake risk.
The Wasatch Fault is a fracture in the Earth’s crust. It is a seismically active normal fault, which means it has moved many times in the past. It runs along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains, spanning about 240 miles from southern Idaho to central Utah, including through the state’s population centers, including Salt Lake City.
Geophysicist Srisharan Shreedharan is an assistant professor is USU’s Department Geosciences. Working with Associate Professor Alexis Ault and doctoral student Jordan Jensen, he has published new findings about why earthquakes occur along the Wasatch Fault.
Earthquake slip is the relative movement of rock masses on either side of a fault line during an earthquake. The USU scientists discovered earthquake slip is possible along a portion of the Wasatch Front because fault rocks are more worn down and slicker than the surrounding, undamaged rock.