Yihe Huang
University of Michigan, MI·Earth & Environmental Science
Small earthquakes happen far more often than large ones. How the number of quakes falls off as magnitude rises is described by the magnitude-frequency distribution (MFD), and summarized by a number called the b-value.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
- Topics
seismology
earthquakes
b-value
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Produce earthquake catalogs with consistent magnitudes for small and large quakes in southern California and Oklahoma by recalculating magnitudes from relative magnitude differences.
- Test whether magnitude-frequency distributions deviate from an exponential distribution at low magnitudes and determine how such deviations bias estimates of the b-value.
- Quantify whether b-values change significantly during foreshocks, mainshocks and aftershocks, and during operation of wastewater injection wells linked to induced earthquakes in Oklahoma.
- Develop a free online educational tool that lets students, teachers and the public analyze seismograph data and estimate earthquake magnitudes.
More about the research
Scientists use the b-value to estimate, from frequent small quakes, how often rare large quakes should occur, and to flag places at risk. Getting it right requires huge earthquake catalogs in which every magnitude was measured the same way. Today's catalogs often mix magnitude types and contain large errors for small quakes, which can distort the b-value.
Why it matters
More reliable b-values could improve seismic hazard analysis, which feeds into building codes and other public safety measures. Communities in southern California and in Oklahoma, where wastewater injection triggers earthquakes, could benefit from better estimates of how often large quakes are likely and how injection affects that risk.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ahmed Elbanna
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Earth & Environmental Science
Build an extensible software framework and science gateway that gives a broad user community access to physics-based earthquake rupture forecast models without requiring local expertise or computing resources.
Folarin Kolawole
Columbia University, NY·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether fault motion along the reactivating Davie Fracture Zone varies along its length because of inherited bends and offsets, or stays uniform through local rotations of the stress field.
Shaikh Arifuzzaman
University of Nevada-Las Vegas, NV·Earth & Environmental Science
Develop an artificial intelligence framework that maps and interprets active fault networks by integrating multiple data sources, and that characterizes fault-system dynamics across regions with contrasting tectonic settings.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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