Map of California & Nevada earthquakes

PKD - Bear Valley Ranch, Parkfield, CA, USA

View of Parkfield

1996/09/06 16:28:00 - Present Latitude: 35.9452 Longitude: -120.5416 Elevation: 583.00 meters

Typical STS-2 installation

Location | Geology | Vault Conditions
Instrumentation | Network | Operation Notes
Noise Characteristics | Data Availability

Location:

Site is located in Parkfield, California, at the Bear Valley Ranch. This site was selected as a replacement for PKD1.

Geology:

Miocene non-marine

Vault/Borehole conditions:

The instrumentation is sited on a pier in a shallow adit built with a steel container.

Instrumentation:

Sensor	Datalogger	Start Date	End Date	SEED Channels	Location
AntennaCurrent	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	VE?	00
ClockPhase	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	LC?,VC?	00
ClockQuality	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	LC?,VC?	00
InputVoltage	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	VE?	00
Kinemetrics FBA ES-T Accel. GFE (2 g max 10 v/g)	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	HN?	00
Streckeisen STS-2 VBB Tri-Axial Seismometer	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	BH?,HH?,LH?,VH?	00
SystemCurrent	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	VE?	00
SystemTemperature	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	VK?	00
VCOValue	Q330HR-GFE	2010/05/04	Present	VC?	00

Previous Instrumentation

The PKD site also is home to a continuously operating GPS receiver (PKDB) as part of the BARD network. PKD is also the site of electro-magnetic observations.

Network:

BK (Berkeley Digital Seismic Network)

Operation Notes: (may not be current)

This section summarizes major changes in equipment or in instrumentation at PKD.

This site suffers from frequent communications problems, owing to rich radio environment in the Parkfield area and issues with line of sight limitations. Over the years, we have experimented with mulitple radios and various options for repeaters.

• 06/15/2004: Changed BH channels sampling rate to 40 Hz.
• 10/10/2001: STS-2 seismometer replaced.
• 12/20/1999: Q980 software upgraded to MSHEAR.
• 02/05/1999: Installed electro-magnetic sensors, with a Quanterra 4120
• 05/09/1997: Upgraded Q980 with 4 GB disk and ethernet card.
• 09/20/1996: Installed GPS monument and Ashtech receiver.
• 08/13/1996: Streckeisen STS-2 broadband seismometer and Kinemetrics FBA-23 installed.

Noise Characteristics:

The figures below are cumulative plots of power spectral density (psd) determined from the broadband channels. In each figure, the vertical component psd is plotted with blue diamonds, the north component psd with red squares, and the east component psd with green circles. The results are presented in the 5 different frequency bands, and the USGS/Albuquerque low noise model is plotted as a dashed line in each. The PSD units are in dB (decibel) relative to 1 (m/s**2)**2/Hz. The current annual plot is updated weekly.

Cumulative PSD results
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005

Data Availability:

BDSN waveforms and associated metadata are available at the Northern California Earthquake Data Center (NCEDC).

• Map of BDSN stations
• Table of BDSN stations
• BK Information Directory, including
  • List of station locations
  • List of available channels
    • Year/month/day format
    • Year,doy format
  • Instrument Response
    • SEED format
    • Simplified Responses
• Information on Quanterra Timing Errors
• Information on Quanterra 4120 FIR Filter changes - 6/30/2003
• Information on BH sampling rate change - 06/15/2004
• View digital seismograms

Several tools provide access to SEED format data at the NCEDC, both in terms of querying the archives and allowing data requests.

• Querying the archives
  • SeismiQuery at the NCEDC
  • NetDC Request Form
• Requesting data by channel and time
  • NetDC Request Form
• Requesting data by event
  • EVT_FAST request for NC data

Help on using these tools is available.