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W Ursa Majoris (W UMa)-type contact binary systems (CBs) are useful statistical distance indicators because of their large numbers. Here, we establish (orbital) period-luminosity relations (PLRs) in 12 optical-to-mid-infrared bands (GBV RIJHK s W 1W 2W 3W 4) based on 183 nearby W UMa-type CBs with accurate Tycho-Gaia parallaxes. The 1σ dispersion of the PLRs decreases from optical to near-and mid-infrared wavelengths. The minimum scatter, 0.16 mag, implies that W UMa-type CBs can be used to recover distances to 7% precision. Applying our newly determined PLRs to 19 open clusters containing W UMa-type CBs demonstrates that the PLR and open cluster CB distance scales are mutually consistent to within 1%. Adopting our PLRs as secondary distance indicators, we compiled a catalog of 55,603 CBs candidates, of which 80% have distance estimates based on a combination of optical, near-, and mid-infrared photometry. Using Fourier decomposition, 27,318 high-probability W UMa-type CBs were selected. The resulting 8% distance accuracy implies that our sample encompasses the largest number of objects with accurate distances within a local volume with a radius of 3 kpc available to date. The distribution of W UMa-type CBs in the Galaxy suggests that in different environments, the CB luminosity function may be different: larger numbers of brighter (longer-period) W UMa-type CBs are found in younger environments.

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Accelerated strain followed the Landers and Big Bear earthquakes, returning to the normal rate only after a period of several months. We observed this strain throughout most of southern California using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Three GPS receivers operating continuously in fixed positions at Pinyon Flat, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena), and Goldstone all recorded postseismic deformation in a relative sense. In addition, we established 16 sites where we deployed portable receivers occasionally over a period of about 6 months near the rupture zones of the earthquakes. Anomalous postseismic displacements ranged from 55 mm near the epicenter to a few millimeters far from the fault. We modeled the displacements, using dislocation theory, as due to variable slip on the faults that were displaced at the times of the earthquakes. The model suggests that the postseismic strain released the equivalent of about 15% of the seismic moment of the mainshock. While the strain released from the upper 10 km is about the same as what can be explained by direct effects of aftershocks, the major contribution of strain release comes from the lower layer, below 10-km depth. Significant afterslip or viscous relaxation must have occurred below 10-km depth to explain the observed deformation more than 100 km from the fault. One interpretation is that high stress on the margin of the co-seismic rupture zone drives the rupture to extend itself into urbroken rock below and along the initial rupture zone.