The Los Angeles Region Seismic Experiment is a cooperative study between the Southern California Earthquake Center (funding from the National Science Foundation) and the U.S. Geological Survey. It is intended to image the crustal structure beneath the greater Los Angeles basin, and in particular, address the questions of depth to Moho, the possible existence of mid-crustal decollements, and the geometry of blind thrust faults. Also, the experiment will provide a 3-D crustal velocity structure for the region - important for improving our understanding of seismic-wave path-effects on strong ground motions accompanying large earthquakes, and for improving microearthquake hypocenter locations. The basic experiment consisted of three wide-angle reflection - refraction onshore-offshore transects through the Los Angeles region. Field work was conducted in 1994 and 1999.

Recent Papers:

• Fuis, G.S., Clayton, R.W., Davis, P.M., Ryberg, T., Lutter, W.J., Okaya, D.A., Hauksson, E., Prodehl., C., Murphy, J.M., Benthien, M.L., Baher, S.A., Kohler, M.D., Thygesen, K., Simila, G., and Keller, G.R., 2003, Fault systems of the 1971 San Fernando and 1994 Northridge earthquakes, southern California: Relocated aftershocks and seismic images from LARSE II, Geology, 31, 171-174.
  
  
• Godfrey, N.J., Fuis, G.S, and Okaya, D.A., 2002, Lower-crustal deformation beneath the central Transverse Ranges, southern California: results from the Los Angeles Region Seismic Experiment, J. Geophys. Res. 10.1029/ 2001JB000354.
  
  
• Fuis, G.S., Ryberg, T., Godfrey, N., Okaya, D.A., and Murphy, J.M., 2001, Crustal structure and tectonics from the Los Angeles basin to the Mojave Desert, southern CA, Geology, 29, 15-18.
  
  
• ten Brink, U.S., Zhang, J., Brocher, T.M., Okaya, D.A., Klitgord, K., and Fuis, G., 2000, The Inner California Borderlands as a possible metamorphic core complex: seismic and gravity evidence, J. Geophs. Res., 105, 5835-5857.