Seasonal slow slip in landslides as a window into the frictional rheology of creeping shear zones.

Whether Earth materials exhibit frictional creep or catastrophic failure is a crucial but unresolved problem in predicting landslide and earthquake hazards. Here, we show that field-scale observations of sliding velocity and pore water pressure at two creeping landslides are explained by velocity-strengthening friction, in close agreement with laboratory measurements on similar materials. This suggests that the rate-strengthening friction commonly measured in clay-rich materials may govern episodic slow slip in landslides, in addition to tectonic faults.

Foreshock properties illuminate nucleation processes of slow and fast laboratory earthquakes.

Understanding the connection between seismic activity and the earthquake nucleation process is a fundamental goal in earthquake seismology with important implications for earthquake early warning systems and forecasting. We use high-resolution acoustic emission (AE) waveform measurements from laboratory stick-slip experiments that span a spectrum of slow to fast slip rates to probe spatiotemporal properties of laboratory foreshocks and nucleation processes. We measure waveform similarity and pairwise differential travel-times (DTT) between AEs throughout the seismic cycle.

Ultralow frictional healing explains recurring slow slip events.

Plate motion on shallow subduction megathrusts is accommodated by a spectrum of tectonic slip modes. However, the frictional properties and conditions that sustain these diverse slip behaviors remain enigmatic. Frictional healing is one such property, which describes the degree of fault restrengthening between earthquakes.

Preferential Retention and Transport of Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid in a Dolomite Aquifer.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can represent a significant human health risk if present in aquifers used as a drinking water source. Accurate assessment of PFAS exposure risks requires an improved understanding of field-scale PFAS transport in groundwater. Activities at a former firefighter training site in University Park, Pennsylvania introduced perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) to the underlying dolomite aquifer.