Basin and Range Province Committee

The Basin and Range Province Committee (BRPC) seeks to promote the understanding and study of seismic hazards in the Basin and Range Province (BRP) of the western U.S., and to provide advice and recommendations to policy-making bodies regarding seismic hazards and risk in that region.

Chair: William Lund, Utah Geological Survey

Members

Rick Allis, Utah Geo.

Lee Allison, Arizona Geo.

Sophia Beym, New Mexico E.M.

Roy Breckenridge, Idaho Geo.

Bob Carey, Utah E.M.

Craig dePolo, Nevada Geo.

David Jackson, Idaho E.M.

Dave Love, New Mexico Geo.

Rick Martin, Nevada E.M.

John Parrish, California Geo.

Phil Pearthree, Arizona Geo.

Bill Phillips, Idaho Geo.

Jon Price, Nevada Geo.

Debbie Smith, Montana Geo.

Mike Stickney, Montana Geo.

Background and Activities

The BRPC consists of geoscientists and emergency managers from six Basin-and-Range Province states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah).  The BRPC states share common concerns regarding earthquake hazards and risk in the BRP.  Among those concerns are the large number of poorly studied or unstudied potentially active normal-slip faults in the BRP; the close proximity of known active faults to BRP urban centers; long recurrence intervals between damaging BRP earthquakes, leading to complacency on the part of both citizens and policy makers; unknowns regarding BRP fault behavior (earthquake clustering and triggering, multi-segment rupture, stress drops, BRP-specific attenuation relations); and the difficulty of preparing for damaging earthquakes in rural areas lacking adequate resources for planning and emergency response.

Goals pursued by the BRPC include promoting scientific research and emergency management functions in the BRP, establishing post-earthquake technical information clearinghouses, establishing informal cooperative agreements between states for technical assistance in the event of a damaging earthquake anywhere within the BRP, and facilitating information dissemination regarding the latest technical research and emergency response issues in the BRP.

The BRPC has convened two Basin and Range Province Seismic Hazard Summits, the first in 1997 and the second in 2004.  The summits were held in Reno, Nevada, and highlighted current seismic-hazard research in the BRP.  Together the summits resulted in eight draft policy recommendations to the WSSPC Board; the Board subsequently adopted 7 of the recommendations as WSSPC policy statements.   Proceedings volumes are available for both summits from the Utah Geological Survey.

The second BRP Seismic Hazards Summit in May of 2004 was sponsored by WSSPC, USGS, FEMA, and western states geological surveys and brought together geoscientists, engineers, emergency managers and policy makers to present and discuss the latest earthquake hazards research and to evaluate its implications for hazard reduction and public policy.

Summit Report: Basin and Range Province Seismic Hazards Summit II
Proceedings Volume, Basin and Range Province, Seismic Hazards Summit II, April 2005 Utah Geological Survey MP-05-2

The BRPC convened a broadly based Basin and Range Earthquake Working Group in 2005 to consider technical issues relevant to preparation of the National Seismic-Hazards Maps for the BRP. Recommendations made to the U.S. Geological Survey are contained in Utah Geological Survey Open-file Report 477:
Recommendations to the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Program

The BRPC has modified California’s post-earthquake technical clearinghouse plan to create a generic model plan applicable to all BRP states, and held a clearinghouse workshop in 2001.

Post-Earthquake Technical Clearinghouse Workshop
March 26-27, 2001, Salt Lake City, Utah

Model Post-Earthquake Technical Clearinghouse Plan (PDF)

Model Post-Earthquake Technical Clearinghouse Plan (Microsoft® Word format)
(Use this format for adapting/editing)