Tim Siegel was one of four co-leaders of a Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) team that investigated the impacts of the 2018 Tennessee Earthquake that occurred near Decatur, Tennessee on December 12, 2018. Among the team members were Ali Leib and Mark Madget. The team performed reconnaissance of the area around the epicenter of the quake and prepared a report of their observations.
The quake occurred at 4:14 am EST approximately 12 km north-northeast of Decatur, Tennessee, which is about 240 km southeast of Nashville, TN. The highest recorded peak ground acceleration (PGA) was 0.0215g approximately 36 km from the epicenter. At least 21 aftershocks were recorded through December 18, 2018. The GEER team did not encounter any evidence of earthquake-induced damage in the areas they visited. Organizations such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) , and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) “reported that either there was no damage to their facilities or that their operations were unaffected due to earthquake.”
The team’s report can be downloaded from GEER here. Click the image below to see the list of the entire team.
GEER is a “volunteer organization of geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, and earth scientists from academia, industry, government organizations, and non-profit organizations.” They assemble teams to conduct detailed reconnaissance after extreme events (earthquakes, landslides, floods, hurricanes, etc.) in order “to obtain valuable perishable information that can be used to advance research and improve engineering practice.”
To find out more about GEER, visit their website.
