| Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, is located where damaging earthquakes
are only moderately likely, but the consequences of earthquakes, mainly
from the New Madrid seismic zone, can be very high. This densely populated
urban area is built on a 1-kilometer-thick sequence of sediments deposited
in a trough known as the Mississippi embayment. This thick pile of sediments
significantly affects earthquake ground motions. We, the authors, have
generated a suite of seismic hazard maps for a six-quadrangle area in
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, that accounts for these effects. These
maps and their derivative products represent the collaborative efforts
of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners. |
