The Community Fault Model v6.0 and progress towards a statewide fault model

Andreas Plesch, Scott T. Marshall, John H. Shaw, Mei-Hui Su, Philip J. Maechling, Tran T. Huynh, & Edric Pauk

Published September 10, 2023, SCEC Contribution #13101, 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #197

Version 6 of the SCEC Community Fault Model (CFM 6.0) was officially released in May of 2023. CFM 6.0 was developed based on results of an in-depth and thorough community evaluation process involving approximately 30 SCEC investigators that resulted in significant revisions to the model. The evaluation considered 23 structurally significant alternative fault representations that were assessed using the SCEC CFM web tools (https://www.scec.org/research/cfm-viewer/) and a web-based survey tool. Participants quantitatively ranked current and alternative fault representations and provided written comments. The fault representations receiving the highest collective ranking were incorporated as “preferred representation” in CFM 6.0. As a result, 14 out of the 23 faults had a new representation designated as the preferred version in CFM 6.0. The CFM 6.0 also incorporates 37 new or revised fault representations, including updates to the San Andreas system, Los Angeles basin, Ventura basin, offshore systems, and other regions.

The SCEC CFM web tools have been updated with new features and capabilities. The CFM web tools for the first time now deliver all three CFM 6.0 submodels including the preferred, alternatives, and rupture models. All three CFM 6.0 sub-models can be interactively visualized in map and 3D views, with users being able to query and download fault surface meshes. Additionally, the viewer has several new capabilities including the ability to resize the user interface and the option to upload user-generated geo-registered images and other data in Google Earth (.kml/.kmz) format. Finally, we have developed a web form for members of the SCEC community to notify the development team of new or missing fault data relevant to the CFM.

As we transition to a statewide focus in the next iteration of SCEC, we are currently working to expand the CFM statewide. We have engaged with CGS to identify priorities and opportunities for collaboration, and have established a preliminary representation of northern California faults built, in part, from a previous effort by SCEC and the USGS. As a first priority, we have integrated necessary metadata such as hierarchical levels and fault identification numbers for these northern California faults into the metadata format of CFM 6.0. This enables delivering a statewide fault model with data in the same consistent format as the current CFM version.

Key Words
Faulting, CFM, damage zones

Citation
Plesch, A., Marshall, S. T., Shaw, J. H., Su, M., Maechling, P. J., Huynh, T. T., & Pauk, E. (2023, 09). The Community Fault Model v6.0 and progress towards a statewide fault model. Poster Presentation at 2023 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
SCEC Community Models (CXM)