2026 SCEC Parkfield 2.0 Workshop Report

William L. Ellsworth, Roland Bürgmann, Clifford H. Thurber, Yihe Huang, Andrew J. Barbour, & Nathan A. Toke

Published July 27, 2026, SCEC Contribution #15246

The Parkfield region along the San Andreas Fault remains one of the world's premier natural laboratories for earthquake science. With its long history of repeating magnitude 6 earthquakes, decades of extensive geophysical and geological observations, and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), Parkfield provides unique opportunities to investigate fault behavior, fault-zone structure, earthquake nucleation, rupture propagation, and the underlying physics of the earthquake cycle. The region also exhibits the full spectrum of fault slip behavior—including earthquakes, creep, tremor, slow slip, and repeating earthquakes—making it an exceptional location for developing and testing new observational, experimental, and computational approaches.

Building on this scientific foundation, the goal of the 2026 SCEC Parkfield 2.0 Workshop was to develop a shared vision for the next generation of Parkfield research. The workshop brought together observational geoscientists, geodesists, seismologists, laboratory researchers, and numerical modelers to review decades of scientific discoveries, assess emerging observational and computational capabilities, and identify the critical scientific questions, infrastructure investments, and coordinated community activities needed to advance Parkfield as a next-generation earthquake observatory.

Invited presentations reviewed the history of the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction Experiment, advances in fault-zone imaging, geology, geodesy, laboratory studies, earthquake-cycle modeling, and the evolving role of SAFOD. Panel discussions and six interdisciplinary breakout groups then identified priorities for Parkfield 2.0, emphasizing modernization of the Parkfield Observatory, improved operational readiness, integrated observations and physics-based models, and strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration. Together, these discussions established a community roadmap for future Parkfield research aligned with the SCEC Science Plan.

Citation
Ellsworth, W. L., Bürgmann, R., Thurber, C. H., Huang, Y., Barbour, A. J., & Toke, N. A. (2026). 2026 SCEC Parkfield 2.0 Workshop Report. , : Statewide California Earthquake Center. https://www.scec.org/events/2026-scec-parkfield-workshop/