The Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting recently saw researchers Christie Rowe and Alex Hatem pose an intriguing question: how wide are faults? To answer this seemingly simple query, they delved into data compiled from single earthquakes across the world.

Their findings suggested that it’s not just a single strand of a fault involved in an earthquake but rather a branching network of fault strands. This means that significant parts of the broad array of fractures that develops over many earthquakes can be activated in a single earthquake. Rowe noted that this width sometimes roughly corresponds to the width of Alquist-Priolo zones established for safe building in California.

The researchers also found that the width of creep zones at these earthquakes are much narrower, both near the surface and 10-25 kilometers deep in the earth. The creep zones, between 2 and 10 meters wide, may be the most localized behavior a fault does.

Rowe emphasized the importance of thinking of faults in a more three-dimensional manner. As a geologist, it’s always been a cognitive disconnect for her when talking to earthquake modelers who have these two-dimensional features that they model earthquakes on. The sheer resistance, strength or friction comes from a volume of rock that’s deforming during an earthquake or in between earthquakes.

The study used a variety of data, including rupture maps, creeping zone width from surveys of slowly shifting monuments along faults and satellite observations, the locations of earthquake aftershocks, low velocity damage zone widths, and the zones delineated by certain types of rock such as pseudotachylyte, ultramylonite and mylonite that are a signature of creep and deformation.

The findings have implications for how scientists study past earthquakes to calculate earthquake recurrence intervals on faults. Slip rates and recurrence intervals can be constrained using localized measurements, but it can be difficult to disentangle the slip that occurred during an earthquake and aseismic slip that occurred after the event. The 2014 Napa, California earthquake is a good example of this phenomenon.

However, if the Napa earthquake occurred thousands of years ago and researchers came across its traces in the rock record, you would just see a bigger earthquake. You might lump all of that slip as a single event. But creep isn’t always accounted for in calculating recurrence intervals, so finding out that creep zones are quite narrow means that we should be aware that we could be convolving creep with seismic slip when we look at those paleoseismic records.

The use of wood in construction has been a staple for millennia, from the majestic Japanese cypress to the sturdy ponderosa pine. Despite its environmental benefits, wood’s susceptibility to damage from sunlight and moisture often pushed it aside in favor of steel and concrete. However, with the growing interest in sustainable building practices, wood is making a comeback.

To overcome the challenges associated with wooden structures, researchers at Kyoto University have developed a groundbreaking method for detecting early signs of coating deterioration. This simple yet effective approach combines mid-infrared spectroscopy with machine learning to predict the extent of degradation before it becomes visible.

The team’s innovative technique uses partial least square regression and genetic algorithms to identify subtle chemical changes in wood coatings. These slight alterations, often too small to detect visually, can be accurately captured by infrared spectroscopy and predicted by the model. This enables researchers to diagnose early coating deterioration with high accuracy, reducing the need for costly visual inspections and preventing further decay.

By integrating chemistry and data-driven modeling techniques, this research demonstrates how traditional craftsmanship and modern data science can work together to support smarter maintenance of sustainable buildings. As Teramoto notes, “We hope this technology will help bridge the gap between traditional craftsmanship and modern data science.”

The researchers are now conducting tests on real wooden buildings, with plans to improve their model for application in new paint and coating product development. Beyond wood, this method may also be applied to materials like concrete or metal, unlocking new possibilities for diagnosing early material failure and improving sustainability across various industries.

California’s High Sierra is home to some of the most stunning natural wonders on the planet. Among these breathtaking landscapes, a new record for California’s highest tree has been discovered – a majestic Jeffrey pine standing tall at 12,657 feet elevation in Sequoia National Park.

Professor Hugh Safford, a forest ecologist from UC Davis, made this serendipitous finding while hiking in the High Sierra. As he paused to admire a foxtail pine and a lodgepole pine, he stumbled upon the Jeffrey pine, which seemed out of place due to its high elevation. “I walk over, and it’s a Jeffrey pine! It made no sense. What is a Jeffrey pine doing above 11,500 feet?” Safford exclaimed.

The Jeffrey pine grows in upper montane areas throughout the Sierra Nevada, but it is not typically found at such extreme high elevations. Yet, Safford recorded Jeffrey pines as high as 12,657 feet elevation – 1,860 feet higher than the highest on record and even higher than lodgepole, limber, and foxtail pines.

This discovery signifies a changing climate amid California’s highest peaks. As snow melts earlier and air temperatures rise, Jeffrey pine seeds are germinating on land that previously found frozen and inhospitable. The Clark’s nutcracker – a bird known for its high-altitude gardening skills – is suspected to be the primary seed disperser, carrying fleshy Jeffrey pine seeds up the mountain from thousands of feet below.

Safford’s work indicates that other species are growing higher than commonly used databases suggest. This finding has significant implications for our understanding of climate change impacts on high-altitude ecosystems. Species attempting to stay ahead of climate changes by moving uphill are doing so far too slowly to keep pace, climate modeling literature suggests. Yet the models do not account for the role of seed dispersals by birds and other species amid shifting windows of ecological opportunity.

The discovery underscores a need for scientists to couple powerful technologies with direct observation. The trees Safford encountered were not detected by any available database, artificial intelligence platform, satellite or remote sensing technology. “People aren’t marching to the tops of the mountains to see where the trees really are,” Safford said. “Instead, they are relying on satellite imagery, which can’t see most small trees.”

This summer, Safford and his students will be out there, hiking along Mount Whitney, Mount Kaweah, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks, identifying seedlings, measuring and identifying trees, and helping to develop models of accurate elevations to better understand the changing landscape of the High Sierra.