Critical transportation infrastructure in Washington and Oregon is vulnerable to damage during strong earthquake shaking, including the anticipated magnitude 9 Cascadia Subduction Zone event. A major hazard to transportation infrastructure is the failure and deformation of the underlying soil. Soils can undergo large deformations and strength loss when subjected to strong earthquake shaking. Current engineering practice has established guidance for estimating earthquake hazards for clay and… Read More

The Wasatch Front is a rapidly growing metropolitan area situated in a region with natural features that extraordinarily limit growth. The Wasatch Front Mountains constrain growth on one side while the Great Salt Lake and the Oquirrh mountains constrain the other. Among the nation’s worst winter inversions occur along the Wasatch Front, whereby high-pressure weather systems trap the air, and all the pollution added by humans, in the valley. The inversions produce red air quality days and… Read More