SCEC Community Stress Model: 11 Geologic Stress Models for Southern California

Southern California crust and lithosphere stress and stressing rate models compiled by the SCEC Community Stress Model Working Group. The current version includes 11 distinct models: 6 of stress and 5 of stressing rate, contributed by authors between 2012 and 2017. Values are reported on a uniform grid covering southern California at ~2 km resolution for the crust and ~5 km resolution for the deeper lithosphere.

Use Cases

• Compare stress tensor orientations derived from earthquake focal mechanisms across different models.
• Analyze stressing rate estimates based on kinematic or mechanical models constrained by geodetic data.
• Study the deviatoric stress required to support existing topography in southern California.
• Evaluate forward physics-based models of the absolute stress tensor from tectonic loading of the fault system.
• Map stress and stressing rate variations across a grid of 72,325 points in the crust and 11,493 points in the lithosphere.

Strengths

• Includes 11 distinct models (6 stress, 5 stressing rate) for comparison.
• Provides data on a high-resolution grid with 72,325 unique points in the crust and 11,493 in the lithosphere.
• Models are based on peer-reviewed methods or datasets, including earthquake focal mechanism inversion and geodetic data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• The dataset is a compilation of varied models with different techniques and assumptions, so no single consensus result is provided.

Provenance

Source

Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Community Stress Model Working Group.

Collection Method

Compilation of contributed models from various authors, using techniques like inversion of earthquake focal mechanisms and physics-based modeling.

Time Range

Models contributed between 2012 and 2017.

Geography

Southern California crust and lithosphere.