St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Missouri-Illinois, Earthquake Hazard Mapping Project

In the St. Louis area of Missouri and Illinois the USGS is partnering with a local working group to produce urban earthquake hazard maps for the community.

The dramatic Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, towers over the gentle landscape of the central Mississippi Valley. In the past, this region has been struck by very powerful earthquakes; the Arch has been built to withstand earthquake shaking. (Photograph copyright Richard Sprengeler, courtesy National Park Service.)

The project is being led by representatives from the University of Missouri-Rolla Natural Hazards Institute, the Illinois State Geological Survey, the Division of Geology and Land Survey , the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) emergency managers, CUSEC State Geologists, and the USGS.

Meetings  

Initial planning workshop, 6/09/03
Filling in the project plan, 9/3/03
Planning meeting, 04/01/04
Decisions & Actions meeting, 2/2/04 and 2/4/04

News (Activities, New Products, Milestones)

• Report on Liquefaction susceptibility mapping, St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois
• Recent publication in Earthquake Spectra on St. Louis area shear-wave seismic velocities and earthquake ground motion
• USGS fact sheet for the St. Louis project
• Mapping announced during Earthquake Awareness Week, at the St. Louis Science Center, February, 2004!
• Measuring Soil and Rock Properties in the St. Louis Area

Links to other Central US Earthquake Information

• Fact Sheet - Earthquake Hazard in the Heart of the Homeland
  Fact sheet on central U.S. hazard addressing the significance of the earthquake threat, how likely large earthquakes are, and how likely damaging shaking is.
  
• Central US earthquakes 1699-2002
• Map of the current ANSS seismograph array in St. Louis
• The South-central Illinois Earthquake of November 9, 1968: Macroseismic Studies

Project Plan

Participants