By Jacek and Christoph

Paleoseismology was developed in places where faults behave well. In California, Anatolia, or along major plate-boundary faults, earthquakes repeatedly break the surface in rather short recurrence intervals, and they form long scarps. In such settings, tectonic geomorphology, subsurface data, and empirical scaling laws between rupture lengths and offset tend to point in the same direction. These regions have been essential for developing paleoseismic methods—but they have also shaped our expectations in ways that are not always transferable to other settings.
Mature orogens and slowly deforming mountain belts are different. Fault slip rates are low and earthquake recurrence intervals are long, often tens of thousands of years. Erosion, solifluction, soil creep, and other types of mass movements modify the landscape faster than tectonics can do. This is especially true in areas that are glaciated during the ice ages. As a result, the geological record of faulting is incomplete by default. Scarps are degraded, stratigraphic markers are rare, and the link between surface morphology and fault kinematics is often ambiguous. None of this means that these regions are tectonically inactive. It means that their activity is harder to read.

This is the latest list of papers on paleoearthquakes and related fields. Enjoy reading and let us know in case we’ve missed something. 

This time we have studies from all over the world, among them a surprisingly large number of papers on historical data. Enjoy reading and let us know in case we’ve missed something.

This time there are a lot of papers on the active tectonics of the Mediterranean region in our list, but we also have interesting studies from Central and Eastern Asia, the Caribbean, and N America. Plus, a couple of methodological papers. Enjoy reading!

This month we have a nice variety of topics and methods, including interesting tsunami studies and lake paleoseismology. Enjoy reading!

What a long list we have today! Perhaps a bit more seismic hazard-focussed than usual, but there’s even a study on active faulting and seismic hazard on the moon. Apart from that there are many papers on Asia this time. Enjoy reading and please let us know about your new research for next month’s list.

Jacek Szczygieł is looking for a colleague to work on speleothems as seismometers for two years in the research project NCN SONATA BIS  „Enhancing paleoseismological record through multi-methods cave deformation analysis tested in diverse Hellenides tectonic regimes”.

Responsibilities:

• conducting research in the discipline of earth and environmental sciences as a part of the project led by Jacek Szczygieł
• participation in field works in the selected caves in Greece,
• participation in the laboratory works in the Institute of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice,
• coordination and acquisition of output data for the analysis conducted using the Finite Element Method and carrying out FEM modelling of the speleothems,
• participation in preparation of the publications that will be the result of the research conducted as a part of the project,
• completion of necessary administrative tasks in accordance with the Individual Assignment of Duties.

Deadline: 31 October, 2025.

See all details here: https://skk.erecruiter.pl/Offer.aspx?oid=4597384&cfg=0596d66a80b044cea9e98c4a71799d37&fromSkk=1755093159973&ejoId=467154&ejorId=193334&comId=20067605

The registration for the next PATA Days is now open! PATA Days are the main activity of TERPRO’s project CHAMP. The 2026 international workshop on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics, and Archeoseismology will be held in Guatemala to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Guatemala M7.5 Earthquake.
Limited INQUA funding is available to support the participation of ECRs and DCRs (application deadline 15 September).
Find all information on program, deadlines, costs and much more at the conference website: https://www.pata2026.org/
More background on the PATA Days workshop series as well as download links for all previous abstract volumes and field guides can be found at http://pata-days.org/.

This month’s list is very very long and I guess everyone will find something to their taste. Enjoy reading and don’t hesitate to drop us a note in case we’ve missed something. Also, get in touch if you want to write a short blog post about your latest project/paper/field work on paleoseismology.

The Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, seeks to appoint a full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Active Faulting and Earthquake Hazards. The post holder will report to Prof. Richard Walker, Principal Investigator on the project.

The successful candidate will work closely with Prof. Richard Walker, along with the broader COMET community, on a project sponsored by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) aimed at providing active fault maps and information about earthquake potential and related hazards in proximity to major hydropower developments in Kyrgyzstan. The project will involve both remote-sensing and field-based observations and data collection. It will provide outputs to the World Bank CAWEP (Central Asia Water Energy Power) programme to aid the design process, leading to more resilient development. An important second aim of the project is in working with networks of institutes in central Asia to strengthen capacity, and to develop further efforts in hazard identification across the region. 

Closing Date & Time: 01-Aug-2025 12:00

More details here.