SCEC Award Number 22066 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Data Gathering and Products)
Proposal Title Enhancements to the Community Fault Model (CFM) and its IT infrastructure to support SCEC science
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Scott Marshall Appalachian State University John Shaw Harvard University Philip Maechling University of Southern California
Other Participants Andreas Plesch (Co-Investigator)
Mei-Hui Su (SCEC developer)
Edric Pauk (SCEC developer)
SCEC Priorities 3b, 1a, 1b SCEC Groups CXM, Seismology, Geology
Report Due Date 03/15/2023 Date Report Submitted 03/15/2023
Project Abstract
 The SCEC Community Fault Model (CFM) is one of the most established SCEC community models and serves as a widely used resource (Plesch et al., 2007; Nicholson et al., 2021; Plesch et al., 2021) in many science and seismic hazards assessment applications. The CFM also directly contributes to other community modeling efforts, such as the Geological Framework (GFM), Community Rheologic (CRM), and Community Velocity (CVM-H) Models.

This past year, we developed a new, comprehensive update to the SCEC Community Fault Model (CFM 6.0) in southern California (Figure 1) along with enhancements to the web-based model viewer and database. This model version is designated with a major release number due to significant revisions from the previous CFM version, including an in-depth community evaluation process. The CFM 6.0 features 37 new or revised fault representations, including updates to the San Andreas system, faults in the Los Angeles and Ventura basins, offshore areas, and other regions. All additions and revisions come with a complete set of metadata that includes, among other information, naming based on fault system hierarchy, average strike/dip, source references, and the associated fault ID number in the USGS Quaternary fault and fold database.
Intellectual Merit The SCEC Community Fault Model version 6 (CFM 6.0) is a state-of-the art, comprehensive 3D representation of the major known faults that pose earthquake hazards in southern California. The model is used as the basis for many research and hazard assessment efforts, within and beyond SCEC. As the most established CXM effort, the CFM and its web-based resources are also being directly used to support other community models.
Broader Impacts Our collaboration has produced a new model version (6.0) and updated web-based tools that host, visualize, and deliver the CFM to a wide audience. Updates to the CFM web tools facilitate use of the CFM by a wide audience including many students and other non-experts. As the most established SCEC CXM effort, many of these web-based resources are being directly used to support other community models. For example, the same backend software developed in our ongoing work is now being used by the CGM and the geologic framework component of the CRM. A tool that we developed to display large numbers of point data (earthquake catalogs) on the CFM map interface has been adopted by the CGM to display InSAR data. The main enhancements to the CFM web tools are the addition of a Google Earth kml file uploader to the map interface and the ability to resize the map interface. This will allow users to upload their own kml files to the CFM map interface to compare their own data with the CFM model. We expect this will also be of use to other CXM web tools. All these web-based tools serve to greatly increase accessibility and will facilitate the next generation of SCEC science.
Exemplary Figure Figure 1: Perspective view of the CFM 6.0. Faults are bounded at depth by the local seismogenic thickness and appear as colored bands. Fault color is mapped to fault area, the top level in a hierarchical naming system. Small dots are relocated hypocenters (after Hauksson et al., 2012), which are colored by their time of occurrence. BNRA: Basin and range, SNFA: Sierra Nevada, MJVA; Mohave, GVFA: Great Valley, GRFS: Garlock Fault, CRFA: Coast ranges, OCC: Offshore Central California, WTRA: Western Transverse Ranges, ETRA: eastern Transverse Ranges, SAFS: San Andreas Fault, PNRA: Peninsular Ranges, SALT: Salton Sea, OCBA: Offshore Continental Borderland.