The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory conducts essential research on earthquakes and solid earth processes while collecting and delivering high quality geophysical data.
We provide robust and real-time earthquake and hazard information on Northern California earthquakes, in collaboration with our partners.
We enable the broad consumption of earthquake information by the general public while educating and training students at all levels.
When Creep becomes Unsteady
The San Andreas Fault is without doubt the most prominent earthquake fault in California. On maps it is usually depicted as a single continuous line reaching from the Salton Sea in the south all the way to Cape Mendocino in Northern California...
BSL Engineering Team Recognized with UC Berkeley SPOT Award
Jonah Merritt, Fabia Terra, Zack Alexy, George Dorian, and Nick Stein earned a UC Berkeley SPOT award for their rapid work to get Earthquake Early Warning stations online.
Artificial Neural Networks and Seismology with MyShake
Here at the Berkeley Seismology Lab, Qingkai Kong is using an artificial neural network as a part of a citizen science project called MyShake. Here's how it works....
A Slow Emergency and a Sudden Slump
The current eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island is accompanied by thousands of earthquakes. Most of them have magnitudes below 2.5, but some of them are significantly bigger. However, not all of them are created equal...
Quakes on Mars?
When engineers from the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory set out to install a new seismic monitoring station in Northern California, their task is relatively straightforward. Once a landowner has agreed to support Earth science by hosting a new station, a suitable location needs to be found on the land in question...
Does the East Bay Swarm Again?
In this blog, we have often reported about unique earthquake swarms, which happen in the San Ramon Valley in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area west of Mt. Diablo. In fact, the very first entry into this blog almost ten years ago was about a magnitude 4 temblor under Alamo and its relationship to these earthquake swarms...
Can We Outsmart a Disaster?
This blog has never been about fear mongering. We have always tried to describe seismic hazards and their associated risks properly, without drifting into horror scenarios about devastating earthquakes. But what you will read here in the next few minutes, will sound like the farfetched plot of a bad Hollywood disaster movie...
M7 Hayward Fault Simulation
Explore the science behind a simulation of a magnitude 7 earthquake on the East Bay's Hayward Fault and learn what it could mean for shaking potential in your area...
What a Difference 150 Years Make
During the next few months, people in Northern California will hear a lot about the Hayward Fault. This geologic fault line, which extends along the foot of the East Bay Hills from Point Pinole in the north to the Warm Springs District of Fremont in the south, is considered one of the most dangerous earthquake faults in our area...
DIY Seismograph
Build your own seismograph with stuff you have around the house in our latest Seismo Vlog...
Today in Earthquake History: Oldest Seismogram 1881
Seismograms are at the heart and soul of earthquake science. Generated by sensitive instruments, they show how the ground or a building wiggles in response to seismic shaking...
