Kenneth Hudnut

Short Biography

Kenneth W. Hudnut applies new technologies such as GPS and LiDAR to earthquake research as a geophysicist for the USGS in Pasadena, California. He led the earthquake source design for the ShakeOut scenario, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault enacted by over 5.5 million people in Nov. 2008 and more people annually since then. As project manager for the GPS L1C signal design since 2003, his contributions to GPS modernization received recognition from NASA and GPS World. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1989, and his A.B. (high honors) from Dartmouth in 1983. He is a Visiting Associate in Geophysics on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology.

Publications

Fletcher, K. E., W. D. Sharp, K. J. Kendrick, W. M. Behr, K. W. Hudnut and T. C. Hanks, 230 Th/U dating of a late Pleistocene alluvial fan offset along the southern San Andreas fault, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull.; September 2010; v. 122; no. 9-10; . 1347-1359; DOI: 10.1130/B30018.1

Lynch, D. K., K. W. Hudnut and D. S. P. Dearborn, Low-altitude Aerial Color Digital Photographic Survey of the San Andreas Fault, Seis. Res. Lett., v. 81 (3), May/June 2010, . 453-459, 2010

Prentice, C.S., P. Mann, A.J. Crone, R.D. Gold, K.W. Hudnut, R.W. Briggs, R.D. Koehler, P. Jean, Tectonic geomorphology and seismic hazard of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault in Haiti, Nature Geoscience, 24 Oct. 2010, v. 3, . 789-793, doi:10.1038/ngeo991

Hayes, G.P., R.W. Briggs, A. Sladen, E.J. Fielding, C.S. Prentice, K.W. Hudnut, P. Mann, F.W. Taylor, A.J. Crone, R.D. Gold, T. Ito, M. Simons, Complex rupture during the 12 January 2010 Haiti, Nature Geoscience, 10 Oct. 2010, v. 3, . 800-805, doi:10.1038/ngeo977

Holzer, T. L., A. S. Jayko, E. Hauksson, J. P. B. Fletcher, T. E. Noce, M. J. Bennett, C. M. Dietel and K. W. Hudnut, Liquefaction caused by the 2009 Olancha, California (USA), M 5.2 earthquake, Engineering Geology, 27 October 2010, v. 116, no. 1-2, Pages 184-188; doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2010.07.009

Liu-Zeng, J., Z. Zhang, L. Wen, P. Tapponier, J. Sun, X. Xing, G. Hu, Q. Xu, L. Zeng, L. Ding, C. Ji, K. W. Hudnut, J. van der Woerd, Co-seismic ruptures of the 12 May 2008, Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan: East–west crustal shortening on oblique, arallel thrusts along the eastern edge of Tibet, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. (2009), doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.017 [Download File]

Perry, Suzanne; Cox, Dale; Jones, Lucile; Bernknopf, Richard; Goltz, James; Hudnut, Kenneth; Mileti, Dennis; Ponti, Daniel; Porter, Keith; Reichle, Michael; Seligson, Hope; Shoaf, Kimberley; Treiman, Jerry; Wein, Anne, 2008. The ShakeOut Earthquake Scenario - A Story That Southern Californians Are Writing. Geological Survey (U.S.) Circular 1324, iv, 16 . [Link]

Jones, Lucile M.; Bernknopf, Richard; Cox, Dale; Goltz, James; Hudnut, Kenneth; Mileti, Dennis; Perry, Suzanne; Ponti, Daniel; Porter, Keith; Reichle, Michael; Seligson, Hope; Shoaf, Kimberley; Treiman, Jerry; Wein, Anne, 2008. The ShakeOut Scenario. Geological Survey (U.S.) Open-File Report 2008-1150, iv, 308 . [Link]

Graves, R. W., B. T. Aagaard, K. W. Hudnut, L. M. Star, J. P. Stewart, and T. H. Jordan, Broadband simulations for Mw 7.8 southern San Andreas earthquakes: Ground motion sensitivity to rupture speed, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L22302, doi:10.1029/2008GL035750, 2008 [Download File]

Lynch, D. K. and K. W. Hudnut, The Wister Mud Pot Lineament: Southeastward Extension or Abandoned Strand of the San Andreas Fault? Bull. Seis. Soc. Amer., Vol. 98, No. 4, . 1720-1729, doi: 10.1785/0120070252, 2008 [Download File]

Evans, John R.; Cochard, A.; Graizer, Vladimir; Huang, Bor-Shouh; Hudnut, Kenneth W.; Hutt, Charles R.; Igel, H.; Lee, William H. K.; Liu, Chun-Chi; Majewski, Eugeniusz; Nigbor, Robert; Safak, Erdal; Savage, William U.; Schreiber, U.; Teisseyre, Roman; Trifunac, Mihailo; Wassermann, J.; Wu, Chien-Fu, 2007. Rotational Seismology Workshop of February 2006. Geological Survey (U.S.) Open-File Report 2007-1145, 20 . [Link]

Ross, Stephanie L.; Boore, David M.; Fisher, Michael A.; Frankel, Arthur D.; Geist, Eric L.; Hudnut, Kenneth W.; Kayen, Robert E.; Lee, Homa J.; Normark, William R.; Wong, Florence L., 2004. Comments on otential geologic and seismic hazards affecting coastal Ventura County, California. Open-File Report 2004-1286, 20 . [Link]

Sanchez, Richard D.; Hudnut, Kenneth W., 2004. GPS-aided inertial technology and navigation-based hotogrammetry for aerial mapping the San Andreas fault system. Open-File Report 2004-1389, 12 .

Phillips, Steven P.; Carlson, Carl S.; Metzger, Loren F.; Howle, James F.; Galloway, Devin L.; Sneed, Michelle; Ikehara, Marti E.; Hudnut, Kenneth W.; King, Nancy E., 2003. Analysis of Tests of Subsurface Injection, Storage, and Recovery of Freshwater in Lancaster, Antelope Valley, California. Water-Resources Investigations Report 2003-4061, 122 . [Link]

Hudnut, Ken; King, Nancy, 2001. SCIGN; new Southern California GPS network advances the study of earthquakes. Fact Sheet 069-01, 2 . [Link]

Hodgkinson, Kathleen M.; Stein, Ross S.; Hudnut, Kenneth W.; Satalich, Jay; Richards, John H., 1996. Damage and restoration of geodetic infrastructure caused by the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake. U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 96-517, 70 ., S19-S36 :ill., maps (some col.) ;28 cm. [Link]

Hudnut, Kenneth W.; Mori, James J.; Prescott, William H.; Stauffer, Peter H., 1995. Southern Californians cope with earthquakes. U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet 225-95, Online resource [Link]

Jones, L. M.; Sieh, K. E.; Agnew, D. C.; Allen, C. R.; Bilham, Roger; Ghildarducci, Mark; Hager, B. H.; Hauksson, Egill; Hudnut, K. W.; Jackson, D. D.; Sylvester, A. G., 1991. Short-term earthquake hazard assessment for the San Andreas Fault in southern California. U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 91-32, 42 . :ill., maps ;28 cm.

My Science Topics

My USGS Science Strategy Areas