Master earthquake catalog composed of pre-existing source catalogs

The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) makes long-term seismic hazard forecasts that are used in building codes. The hazard models usually consider only natural seismicity; non-tectonic (man-made) earthquakes are excluded because they are transitory or too small. In the past decade, however, thousands of earthquakes related to underground fluid injection have occurred in the central and eastern U.S. (CEUS), and some have caused damage. In response, the USGS is now also making short-term forecasts that account for the hazard from these induced earthquakes. A uniform earthquake catalog is assembled by combining and winnowing pre-existing source catalogs. Seismicity statistics are analyzed to develop recurrence models, accounting for catalog completeness. In the USGS hazard modeling methodology, earthquakes are counted on a map grid, recurrence models are applied to estimate the rates of future earthquakes in each grid cell, and these rates are combined with maximum-magnitude models and ground-motion models to compute the hazard. The USGS published a forecast for the years 2016 and 2017. This data set is the master earthquake catalog composed of several pre-existing source catalogs.