This is a past event.

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar

Rebecca Teasley, PhD
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering
University of Minnesota Duluth

Abstract: On the 4^th September 2010 the M_w 7.1 Darfield earthquake occurred on a previously unknown fault approximately 40 km from the city center of Christchurch, New Zealand. This event resulted in significant damage to the built environment, but was only the first of a number of damaging events that compose the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). The most damaging was the 22^th February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake, with widespread damage to infrastructure due to strong shaking and widespread land damage as a result of liquefaction and lateral spreading.

Christchurch, New Zealand has always been susceptible to flooding since it was settled in the mid 1800s, however, following the 2010-2011 CES, this risk has increased through numerous mechanisms.  In March 2014, a NSF funded Geo Engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance team mobilized to join ongoing efforts of researchers in New Zealand to document a flood event and support their efforts on earthquake-flood multi-hazard research. The major themes for this talk will be geotechnical engineering issues, impacts on hydrology and flooding, civil infrastructure/lifeline impacts, and the rebuild process.  The flood events occurring following the CES provide a unique real time learning event for cascading (multi-hazards) events.