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Shelly Kenner

In her article, Kenner said the Earth’s upper mantle and lower crust regions play a significant role in “reloading” a fault zone after an earthquake. Her research focuses on records of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to model the transfer of accumulated stresses along the San Andreas fault line.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 3, 2004) -- An article explaining how Earth’s underground formations help transfer energy from earthquakes, written by Shelley Kenner, a University of Kentucky assistant professor of geological sciences, was highlighted in a recent publication of the American Geophysical Union Journal.

The journal is published by the American Geophysical Union, the largest geological organization in the world.

Kenner teaches geophysical science courses, including courses on volcanoes and earthquakes. She has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and another Master of Science degree in geophysics and a doctorate in geophysics from Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

In her article, Kenner said the Earth’s upper mantle and lower crust regions play a significant role in “reloading” a fault zone after an earthquake. Her research focuses on records of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to model the transfer of accumulated stresses along the San Andreas fault line.

Kenner suggests that improving seismic hazard estimates in such complex fault systems relies on creating a better understanding of the structure and deformation of rock formations deep underground.

She shows that post-seismic activity can provide up to 60 percent of the stress released during large earthquakes, depending on the geometry and patterns of stress in shear zones near a fault.