SCEC Award Number 24100 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Research Project (Multiple Investigators / Institutions)
Proposal Title Expanding the Community Stress Model Statewide by Integrating Stress Orientation and Stressing Rate Models from Northern California
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Karen Luttrell Louisiana State University Elizabeth Hearn Capstone Geophysics Jeanne Hardebeck United States Geological Survey
SCEC Milestones A1-1, A3-3, C1-1 SCEC Groups CEM, SDOT, Geodesy
Report Due Date 03/15/2025 Date Report Submitted 03/27/2025
Project Abstract
 The goal of this research has been to expand the Community Stress Model statewide by integrating stress orientation and stressing rate models from central and northern California into the previously existing suite of CSM products, and to make these new contributions available and accessible to potential users. We collected 8 new models of stress orientation from earthquake focal mechanism inversion, including 6 distinct models covering regions of central or northern California, in addition to one covering parts of Long Valley, and one covering the Ridgecrest region. With these additions CSM v2024 stress orientation models now cover the full extent of the main San Andreas fault. We also developed 3 new stressing rate models based on strain rate estimates incorporated into the latest National Seismic Hazard Map release, assuming a uniform elastic material. These models cover the entire land area of California, and two have stress accumulation estimates that extend offshore to the full extent of CSM model grid space. For each new model, we prepared data and metadata files in the user-friendly formats established for CSM v2023. The combined set of stress and stressing rate models is on track to be released as CSM v2024. We also worked closely with SCEC research programmers to incorporate CSM v2024 contributions into a revised web-based Explorer tool incorporated into the new statewide SCEC website framework. We expect expanding the suite of accessible CSM models will both expand the user community and facilitate novel research avenues.
SCEC Community Models Used Community Stress Model (CSM)
Usage Description This project directly builds the models of CSM v2024 and develops the CSM Explorer visualization tool.
Intellectual Merit This work has directly supported the objectives of the CEM and Stress and Deformation over Time (SDOT) interdisciplinary working groups to achieve the goals of advancing Earthquake System Science, particularly “improving observations and closing critical data gaps” along the SAFS. This work also directly contributes to the overall assessment of availability and quality of CEMs for SAFS regions, integrates new data into the CSM, and further develops cyberinfrastructure for CEM visualization and access.
Broader Impacts This work directly responds to SCEC CEM Research Priorities to develop and utilize cyberinfrastructure for CEM visualization and access. The resulting archive materials and visualization tools have considerably lowered the initial time and energy investment of potential users interested in exploring the CSM model contributions, particularly for student users and users from non-traditional or non-specialized backgrounds. We expect this will both expand the user community and facilitate novel research avenues.
Project Participants This project was a collaboration between university (Luttrell), government (Hardebeck), and private (Hearn) researchers, in conjuction with SCEC research programmer staff (Su, Pauk, and Huynh).
Exemplary Figure Figure 2: Example stress orientation and stressing rate models in CSM v2024. a) SHmax azimuth and b) Aphi orientation parameter derived from focal mechanism inversion for a compilation of models (YHSM-2013, PH01_Creeping_Table2, and PH03_NorCal). c) Differential stress accumulation rate from Johnson-Hearn model. All models shown for 5 km depth.
Linked Publications

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