Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Gillian Foulger's Outputs (125)

The plausibility of claimed induced seismicity (2024)
Journal Article
Wilkinson, M., Mhana, N., Wilson, M. P., Foulger, G. R., Tezel, T., & Gluyas, J. G. (2024). The plausibility of claimed induced seismicity. Scientific Reports, 14(1), Article 30846. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81632-3

Claims of industrially induced seismicity vary from indisputable to unpersuasive and yet the veracity of industrial induction is vital for regulatory and operational practice. Assessment schemes have been developed in response to this need. We report... Read More about The plausibility of claimed induced seismicity.

Carbonate deposition in the Arctic during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) (2024)
Journal Article
Posamentier, H. W., Nikishin, A. M., Aleshina, K. F., Rodina, E. A., Afanasenkov, A. P., Bachtel, S. L., & Foulger, G. R. (2025). Carbonate deposition in the Arctic during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). Gondwana Research, 139, 136-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2024.11.011

Recently-acquired, high-quality seismic reflection profiles document the presence of possible carbonate deposits on the Mendeleev Rise in the Arctic Ocean during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. These deposi... Read More about Carbonate deposition in the Arctic during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO).

Lithospheric weakspots, not hotspots: New England-Quebec and Shenandoah anorogenic magmatism in the context of global plate tectonics, intraplate stress and LIPs (2024)
Journal Article
Vogt, P. R., & Foulger, G. R. (2025). Lithospheric weakspots, not hotspots: New England-Quebec and Shenandoah anorogenic magmatism in the context of global plate tectonics, intraplate stress and LIPs. Earth-Science Reviews, 260, Article 104991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104991

We explore the origins of anorogenic post-breakup magmatism in two areas of the mid-Atlantic Appalachians: the New England-Quebec Province (ca. 130–120 Ma) and the Shenandoah Province (ca. 49–47 Ma). Radiometric rock ages and other data do not suppor... Read More about Lithospheric weakspots, not hotspots: New England-Quebec and Shenandoah anorogenic magmatism in the context of global plate tectonics, intraplate stress and LIPs.

Devonian-Mississippian magmatism related to extensional collapse in Svalbard: implications for radiating dyke swarms. (2024)
Journal Article
Koehl, J.-B. P., Tappe, S., Foulger, G. R., & Anell, I. M. (2024). Devonian-Mississippian magmatism related to extensional collapse in Svalbard: implications for radiating dyke swarms. Open Research Europe, 4, Article 262. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.18798.1

BackgroundDespite extensive studies of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic magmatic history of Svalbard, little has been done on the Paleozoic magmatism due to fewer available outcrops.Methods2D seismic reflection data were used to study magmatic intrusions in the... Read More about Devonian-Mississippian magmatism related to extensional collapse in Svalbard: implications for radiating dyke swarms..

Back‐Arc Tectonics and Plate Reconstruction of the Philippine Sea‐South China Sea Region Since the Eocene (2023)
Journal Article
Liu, J., Li, S., Cao, X., Dong, H., Suo, Y., Jiang, Z., Zhou, J., Li, X., Zhang, R., Liu, L., & Foulger, G. R. (2023). Back‐Arc Tectonics and Plate Reconstruction of the Philippine Sea‐South China Sea Region Since the Eocene. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(5), Article e2022GL102154. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl102154

Insight into the evolution of Philippine Sea-South China Sea (SCS) plate motions helps reveal the driving mechanisms of the long-term tectonic complexity in Southeast Asia. Here, based on the integration of the most recent geological and seismic data... Read More about Back‐Arc Tectonics and Plate Reconstruction of the Philippine Sea‐South China Sea Region Since the Eocene.

Human-Induced Earthquakes: The Performance of Questionnaire Schemes (2022)
Journal Article
Foulger, G. R., Wilkinson, M. W., Wilson, M. P., & Gluyas, J. G. (2022). Human-Induced Earthquakes: The Performance of Questionnaire Schemes. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 112(6), 2773-2794. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120220079

Questionnaire schemes are commonly used to investigate whether or not certain earthquakes were induced by industrial activity. Such schemes are subjective and cannot be assumed to give the “right” answer in a scientifically rigorous sense. They only... Read More about Human-Induced Earthquakes: The Performance of Questionnaire Schemes.

How strongly do plumes influence Pacific seamount distribution? (2022)
Journal Article
Zhao, Y., Riel, B., Foulger, G., & Ding, W. (2022). How strongly do plumes influence Pacific seamount distribution?. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 595, Article 117786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117786

Seamounts are submarine volcanoes postulated to be formed either by hot mantle plumes rising from the deep mantle or by shallow, plate-related processes. However, the relative importance of these two mechanisms has not hitherto been quantified. In th... Read More about How strongly do plumes influence Pacific seamount distribution?.

Human-induced earthquakes: E-PIE—a generic tool for Evaluating Proposals of Induced Earthquakes (2022)
Journal Article
Foulger, G., Wilkinson, M., Wilson, M., Mhana, N., Tezel, T., & Gluyas, J. (2023). Human-induced earthquakes: E-PIE—a generic tool for Evaluating Proposals of Induced Earthquakes. Journal of Seismology, 27(1), 21-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-022-10122-8

The HiQuake database documents all cases of earthquake sequences proposed on scientific grounds to have been induced by anthropogenic industrial activity. Because these cases range from being highly plausible to unpersuasive, stakeholders have reques... Read More about Human-induced earthquakes: E-PIE—a generic tool for Evaluating Proposals of Induced Earthquakes.

The extent of continental material in oceans: C-Blocks and the Laxmi Basin example (2020)
Journal Article
Werner, P., Foulger, G., Gernigon, L., Guan, H., & Geoffroy, L. (2020). The extent of continental material in oceans: C-Blocks and the Laxmi Basin example. Geophysical Journal International, 222(3), 1471-1479. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggaa215

We propose a tectonic interpretation for the outer-SDRs (SDRs: Seaward-Dipping Reflectors) and Pannikar central ridge in the aborted Laxmi Basin west of India from wide-angle seismic reflection data. The outer-SDRs comprise syn-tectonic extrusives (l... Read More about The extent of continental material in oceans: C-Blocks and the Laxmi Basin example.

Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic (2019)
Journal Article
Schiffer, C., Doré, A. G., Foulger, G. R., Franke, D., Geoffroy, L., Gernigon, L., Holdsworth, R., Kusznir, N., Lundin, E., McCaffrey, K., Peace, A., Petersen, K. D., Phillips, T., Stephenson, R., Stoker, M. S., & Welford, K. (2020). Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic. Earth-Science Reviews, 206, Article 102975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102975

The North Atlantic, extending from the Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone to the north Norway-Greenland-Svalbard margins, is regarded as both a classic case of structural inheritance and an exemplar for the Wilson-cycle concept. This paper examines differen... Read More about Structural inheritance in the North Atlantic.

Evolution of Labrador Sea–Baffin Bay: Plate or Plume Processes? (2017)
Journal Article
Peace, A. L., Foulger, G. R., Schiffer, C., & McCaffrey, K. J. (2017). Evolution of Labrador Sea–Baffin Bay: Plate or Plume Processes?. Geoscience Canada, 44(3), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2017.44.120

Breakup between Greenland and Canada resulted in oceanic spreading in the Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay. These ocean basins are connected through the Davis Strait, a bathymetric high comprising primarily continental lithosphere, and the focus of the We... Read More about Evolution of Labrador Sea–Baffin Bay: Plate or Plume Processes?.

Global review of human-induced earthquakes (2017)
Journal Article
Foulger, G. R., Wilson, M., Gluyas, J., Julian, B. R., & Davies, R. (2018). Global review of human-induced earthquakes. Earth-Science Reviews, 178, 438-514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.07.008

The Human-induced Earthquake Database, HiQuake, is a comprehensive record of earthquake sequences postulated to be induced by anthropogenic activity. It contains over 700 cases spanning the period 1868–2016. Activities that have been proposed to indu... Read More about Global review of human-induced earthquakes.

Hotspots in Hindsight (2015)
Book Chapter
Julian, B., Foulger, G., Hatfield, O., Jackson, S., Simpson, E., Einbeck, J., & Moore, A. (2015). Hotspots in Hindsight. In G. Foulger, M. Lustrino, & S. King (Eds.), The Interdisciplinary Earth: A Volume in Honor of Don L. Anderson (105-121). The Geological Society of America / AGU. https://doi.org/10.1130/2015.2514%2808%29

Several workers have suggested that the locations of melting anomalies (hotspots) and the original locations of large igneous provinces (LIPs) and kimberlite pipes lie preferentially above the margins of two large low-shear-velocity provinces, or LLS... Read More about Hotspots in Hindsight.

The Yellowstone “hot spot” track results from migrating basin-range extension (2015)
Book Chapter
Foulger, G., Christiansen, R., & Anderson, D. (2015). The Yellowstone “hot spot” track results from migrating basin-range extension. In G. Foulger, M. Lustrino, & S. King (Eds.), The interdisciplinary earth : a volume in honor of Don L. Anderson (215-238). Geological Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1130/2015.2514%2814%29%26%238203%3B

Whether the volcanism of the Columbia River Plateau, eastern Snake River Plain, and Yellowstone (western U.S.) is related to a mantle plume or to plate tectonic processes is a long-standing controversy. There are many geological mismatches with the b... Read More about The Yellowstone “hot spot” track results from migrating basin-range extension.

Anthropogenic earthquakes in the UK: A national baseline prior to shale exploitation (2015)
Journal Article
Wilson, M., Davies, R., Foulger, G., Julian, B., Styles, P., & Gluyas, J. (2015). Anthropogenic earthquakes in the UK: A national baseline prior to shale exploitation. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 68(Part A), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2015.08.023

We review the distribution, timing and probable causes of ∼8000 onshore UK seismic events between the years 1970–2012. Of 1769 onshore seismic events with local magnitudes (ML) ≥ 1.5, we estimate at least ∼21% of these have an anthropogenic origin, a... Read More about Anthropogenic earthquakes in the UK: A national baseline prior to shale exploitation.

Non-Double-Couple Earthquakes (2015)
Book Chapter
Foulger, G., & Julian, B. (2015). Non-Double-Couple Earthquakes. In M. Beer, I. Kougioumtzoglou, E. Patelli, & I. Au (Eds.), Encyclopedia of earthquake engineering (1-31). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_290-1

Non-double-couple (“non-DC”) earthquake mechanisms differ from what is expected for pure shear faulting in a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic medium. Until the mid-1980s, the DC assumption underlay nearly all seismological analysis, and was highly suc... Read More about Non-Double-Couple Earthquakes.

Maximizing EGS earthquake location accuracies (2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Foulger, G., & Julian, B. (2014, February). Maximizing EGS earthquake location accuracies. Presented at 39th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford, California

Uncertainties in local models of seismic wave speed cause two kinds of errors in estimated microearthquake locations. Errors that differ between nearby events, and which degrade the resolution of faults and similar structures, can now be greatly redu... Read More about Maximizing EGS earthquake location accuracies.