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Drilling to Begin on Deep Borehole for Earthquake Research
Lexington, KY (September 5, 2006) – Drilling and construction will soon begin in Fulton County, Kentucky on the deepest borehole for housing earthquake-monitoring instruments east of the Rocky Mountains--the two-thousand-foot-deep Central U.S. Seismic Observatory (CUSSO).
A partnership of federal agencies and agencies at the University of Kentucky has worked cooperatively to make the project possible. It is overseen by Edward W. Woolery of UK’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Zhenming Wang of the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS).
When the four-inch (inside diameter) wide, steel-encased borehole is completed and equipped with instruments, it will serve as a permanent observatory for earthquake studies as well as research for earthquake-resistant construction in the central U.S. The central U.S. has experienced large earthquakes in the past from the New Madrid seismic zone and the Wabash Valley seismic zone.
The borehole will be drilled to bedrock at Sassafras Ridge in rural Fulton County by Layne Christensen, Inc. It is expected to be completed by late October.
“This will become the flagship observatory in the Kentucky Seismic and Strong-motion Network,” says Wendy Baldwin, Executive Vice President for Research at the University of Kentucky.
The network is a series of 26 seismic monitoring stations operated by KGS and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
The five partners involved in the project have committed a total of $295,652 with a substantial amount of the funding coming from the United States Department of Energy through the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and Environment (KRCEE). The KRCEE was created in 2003 largely as a result of the efforts of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.
The site is near the most active part of the New Madrid seismic zone, providing the maximum amount of data from earthquakes in the zone. Scientific instruments placed in the new seismic hole will allow rigorous evaluation of the effects of earthquakes on bedrock and soil and the resulting ground motions in the region. During an earthquake the rock and soil in this area can amplify shaking, thus causing greater damage to structures such as buildings and bridges.
The observatory will capture an abundance of new data on the origin, location, magnitude, and depth of earthquakes in this region and the propagation of earthquake waves to the surface.
“Western Kentucky and the Central U. S. will benefit from this observatory because data collected will help geologists and engineers better define the earthquake hazards,” says KGS Director Jim Cobb. “This has significant implications for economic development in the region as well as specific scientific and engineering applications for ongoing activities at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.”
The partners on the project include:
CONTACT: Mike Lynch, Kentucky Geological Survey.