9506371 Birkeland This project will conduct mapping and trenching studies of antislope bedrock scarps on the arests and flanks of mountain ridges, to find diagnostic criteria to distinguish between seismic and non-seismic origins of these features. The origins of antislope scarps are presently disputed and this project will test the hypothesis that creep-generated scarps display folded stratigraphy whereas earthquake-generated scarps display colluvial wedge stratigraphy with subsidiary fractures. Field work will analyze bedrock scarps of known seismic and known non-seismic origin. The results of this work will provide significant new information about the seismic hazard potential of antislope scarps in actively deforming tectonic regions.
