PASO is a part of two major initiatives in Earth Science: USArray and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), which themselves are components of an overarching inititative called EarthScope.

The principal objective of SAFOD, also known as the "San Andreas Scientific Drilling Project" is to investigate the earthquake nucleation process using a combination of surface and subsurface observations. The cornerstone of the project is a drillhole that will pass through a seismogenic part of the San Andreas fault at depths of 3-4 km. In addition to bringing up cores from the fault zone, monitoring devices will be placed in the hole near the fault to measure seismicity, temperature, fluid pressure, and deformation.

USArray is a continental scale array of broad-band and short-period seismometers to provide a coherent 3-D image of the lithosphere and deeper Earth. The focus of the effort will be within the national boundaries of the United States (hence the moniker). PASO is a prototype of a "flexible" USArray deployment.

EarthScope is a large-scale Earth Science intitiative focussed on North America in general and the US in particular. In addition to SAFOD and USArray, the main components of EarthScope include the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) applications.

EarthScope Links

• The EarthScope Home Page

SAFOD Links

• The SAFOD home page
  Maintained by Mark Zoback of Stanford. Contains late breaking news as well as the original proposal and reviews. Great source of background information.

• A short summary of SAFOD
  From the EarthScope site. Contains a nice graphic showing how the drill hole will work.

• Can We Save California?
  An article from Time Magazine from their issue on "Visions of the 21st Century" -- April 3, 2000.

• "Government to Fund Attack on Earth's Crust"
  An interesting article about EarthScope and SAFOD from geology.about.com.

• The USArray Initiative

• EarthScope and USArray
  Includes a cute animation showing how the array might traverse the US.

• USArray - a tool for probing the continent

• USArray and San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
  Brief description of USArray and linkages to SAFOD.

• Continental Assembly, Stability, and Disassembly : USArray: An Earth Sciences Initiative to Investigate the North American Continent
  Nice summary article by Alan Levander, Gene Humphreys, Goran Ekstrom, Anne Meltzer, and Peter Shearer.

• A Hubble Telescope Into Earth
  Interesting article from geology.about.com.

Budget news and testimonials

• FY2001 VA/HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Hearing Summaries (5-18-00)
  Congressional Hearing on the NSF Major Research Equipment (MRE) Requests

• AGI Testimony on Fiscal Year 2001 Appropriations for the National Science Foundation
  Congressional Testimony by AGI's David Applegate

Related Projects in Parkfield

• GPS Velocities for Parkfield
  A summary of USGS GPS measurements at Parkfield.

• Parkfield Two-Color Geodimeter Network
  A summary of USGS Geodimeter measurements at Parkfield.

• Parkfield Continuous Strain Network
  A summary of USGS Strain measurements at Parkfield.

• Crustal Deformation Measurements at Parkfield, California
  A summary of USGS efforts in Parkfield.

• Parkfield GEOS Data
  This site contains earthquake and aftershock data collected by the USGS General Earthquake Observation System (GEOS) project in Menlo Park, California.

• Parkfield Borehole Network
  A summary of the the Berkeley group's borehole array in Parkfield

• Seismological Studies at Parkfield, California
  A summary of the the Berkeley group's seismological studies in Parkfield

• Parkfield HRSN
  Home Page of the Berkeley's High Resolution Seismic Network

• DETECTION OF ASEISMIC CREEP ALONG THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT NEAR PARKFIELD, CALIFORNIA WITH ERS-1 RADAR INTERFEROMETRY
  Article by Charles L. Werner, Paul Rosen, Scott Hensley, Eric Fielding, and Sean Buckley

Other Sites of Interest:

• LOOKING BACK AT THE LOMA PRIETA EARTHQUAKE
  A nice review by the Berkeley group on research efforts along the San Andeas.

• 1966 PARKFIELD EARTHQUAKE
  A summary of the last "big one".

• SLO County Office of Emergency Services: The Parkfield Earthquake Prediction Experiment
  What to do when the next big one strikes.

• Earthquakes: Panoramic Fly-through
  Clever graphics showing the Parkfield reflector grid.

• http://www.discovery.com/exp/earthquakes/earthquakes.html
  Discovery Magazine's summary of San Andreas activity.

• HISTORIC SEISMICITY OF THE PARKFIELD AREA
  By W. H. BAKUN

  And of course ....

• Parkfield.com
  "The official web site of the earthquake capitol of the world."

Go to the PASO Home Page