Paul Thenhaus, Senior Geologist

Paul Thenhaus is a Senior Geologist in Model Development at EQECAT, Inc. Mr. Thenhaus has more than 34 years of professional experience involving geological research, seismotectonic modeling and seismic hazard evaluation.

During a 17-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as a Research Geologist, Mr. Thenhaus developed seismotectonic models as a member of the USGS National Seismic Hazards Mapping Team. While with the USGS, he served as a member of the USGS Scientific Review Panel to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). He also served as a consultant to the Department of Energy (DOE) on seismic hazard evaluation of critical facilities including early plan development for the Yucca Mountain High-Level Waste Repository. Mr. Thenhaus' international consulting activities to the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) focused on earthquake hazard investigations on developing countries.

Mr. Thenhaus has participated in numerous post-earthquake damage investigations in California and abroad. In 1992, he led an interagency USGS/AID/NRC team in its investigations of the Dahshur, Egypt, earthquake which caused considerable damage in Cairo and in villages along the lower Nile River.

Since joining EQECAT/ABS Consulting in 1994, Mr. Thenhaus has executed probabilistic seismic hazard investigations for international corporate clients in the oil and gas, nuclear and for insurance industries with extensive project experience in the United Kingdom, Russia, Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean and Trans-Caucaus regions. He has authored more than 80 publications in the areas of geology, seismotectonics and seismic hazard analysis.

Mr. Thenhaus earned a B.S. in Geology at Fort Lewis College.

He is based in Colorado.

Articles and Publications

September 2012
15^th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering
A Consistent Cross-Border Seismic Hazard Model for Loss Estimation and Risk Management in Canada
(PDF 604 KB)
The white paper was published in the proceedings of the 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering held in Lisbon, Portugal in September of 2012.

A case study in the transformation of national seismic hazard models intended for building code applications in Canada and the US. Paul C. Thenhaus, Dr. Ken W. Campbell, Nitin Gupta, David F. Smith, and Dr. Mahmoud M. Khater authored the white paper.

August 2012
European Seismological Commission 33^rd General Assembly
A Consistent Cross-Border Seismic Hazard Model for Loss Estimation and Risk Management in Canada
(PDF 65 KB)
Case Study from the European Seismological Commission 33^rd General Assembly in Moscow, Russia

A case study in the transformation of national seismic hazard models intended for building code applications in Canada and the US. Paul C. Thenhaus, Dr. Ken W. Campbell, Nitin Gupta, David F. Smith, and Dr. Mahmoud M. Khater authored the white paper.

March 2012
Canadian Insurance Top Broker
Living with the Black Swan
(PDF 153 KB)
Bill Keogh and Paul Thenhaus discuss the challenges in catastrophe modeling and possible technology solutions.

February 2012
EQECAT
Spatial and Temporal Earthquake Clustering: Part 2 - Earthquake Aftershocks
(PDF 534 KB)
Part 2 of a 3-part series of white papers on earthquake clustering.

The paper discusses aftershock properties and models, as well as ambiguities in identifying foreshock-mainshock-aftershock sequences.

October 2011
EQECAT
Spatial and Temporal Earthquake Clustering: Part 1 - Global Earthquakes
(PDF 2 MB)
Part 1 of a 3-part series of white papers on earthquake clustering.

Apparent global clustering of damaging earthquakes is raising concerns that our planet might experience even more catastrophic tremblors in the near future. EQECAT experts have been studying these events and published their insights and perspectives.

Speaking Engagements