MODELING HYPOCENTERS TO PREDICT SURFACE FAULT LOCATIONS WITHIN THE EASTERN TENNESSEE SEISMIC ZONE

The East Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ) is the second most active seismic zone in the eastern United States, trending northeast from northern Alabama and Georgia, through eastern Tennessee, and into southern Kentucky. While earthquakes of moderate magnitude have been generated in Alabama and Georgia, the highest seismicity rates are seen in eastern Tennessee. Currently, little fieldwork has been performed in the eastern Tennessee section of the ETSZ to investigate surface fault exposures, which may provide evidence of Quaternary reactivation rates, moment magnitude potential, and earthquake mechanisms. To constrain possible locations of surface faults in the ETSZ, we plotted planes through relocated earthquake hypocenters and projected the planes to the ground surface. From hypocenter plane results we targeted sites for a subsequent field investigation to confirm our plane to hypocenter modeling results. Special attention will be paid to locations of plane intersections with Quaternary sediments within river terraces. Our modeling results and subsequent field truthing may provide valuable information on the location of surface faults, the Quaternary reactivation history, moment magnitude potential, and the seismic hazard the ETSZ poses.