The 5th PATA Days (5th International INQUA Meeting on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archeoseismology) have started with a great icebreaker party on Sunday. On Monday we went on a field trip to Korea’s east coast and had a look at uplifted Late Quaternary terraces and some relatively young thrust faults. Plus, we visited a nuclear waste deposit site. Today the first presentations will start at 10 a.m. and the first poster session will be held. Here are some impressions from the first days:
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Here’s another job offer that will be interesting for the active tectonics and paleoseismology community. The University of Tübingen will hire a Full Professor (W3) for Geodynamics. They are looking for someone who is familiar with “geophysical methods applied to crustal dynamics or surface processes (broadly defined), preferably with application to geologic hazards. The research focus should be on the physical analysis of Earth surface, tectonic, or climate processes and can include (but is not limited to): geodesy and active tectonics, earthquake seismology and neotectonics, mechanics of hillslopes, sediment transport and erosion, crustal or paleoclimate numerical modeling, or regional to global climate change. A combination of observational and modeling techniques at the regional scale or larger is desirable.”
Find the job offer here or download the pdf here: EOS_Ausschreibungstext_Geodynamic_v140828 (pdf, 57 KB). more
The M6.0 Napa earthquake came along with some interesting effects. It produced relatively large surface ruptures, but only minor secondary earthquake environmental effects like localized lateral spread, almost no liquefaction and rockfalls, but some hydrological changes. Dozens of geoscientists went out for mapping the earthquake ruptures, supported by InSAR data that precisely show where the ground moved.
Now the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association published a 400-pages report on their findings. The report is available for download here. Make sure to read it, it’s full of data and great photographs of surface ruptures.
Other interesting articles and posts on the Napa quake: more
An interesting job is currently available at the Utah Geological Survey. They are looking for a project geologist (active tectonics/paleoseismology):
“This is a full-time, career service position, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Replacing Chris DuRoss who resigned. Requisition #02264. CLOSES: 10/06/2014. ***THIS IS A PUBLIC RECRUITMENT*** To view and/or apply for this job announcement, go to http://statejobs.utah.gov/jobseeker/, click on Job Search, then Job Listings. If you have any questions regarding this announcement, please call the Human Resource Office at 801-538-7425.”
You can follow the Utah Geological Survey via Facebook and Twitter, and make also sure to bookmark their interesting blog.
More interesting jobs that are currently avaliable: more
It’s only a few days until the 5th PATA Days will start in Busan, Korea. This International INQUA Meeting on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archeoseismology is the first one to be held in Asia, and I am really excited. The organizers have put together an amazing program. After the icebreaker party on Sunday in the New Malden Pub we will go for a pre-meeting field trip on 22 September. Heading to Korea’s east coast, we will have a look at Quaternary terraces and nuclear power plant sites. The main part of the meeting (23rd and 24th) is dedicated to more than 25 talks on Earthquake Geology, Paleoseismology, Archeoseismology, Active Tectonics, and Seismic Hazard, flanked by poster sessions. Finally, the post-meeting field trip will lead us to active faults in SE Korea and archeoseismological sites. more
Several meetings on tsunamis will be held during the next months, make sure not to miss them. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. This event was not only one of the most deadly natural disasters that ever happened, but it also was a kind of wake-up call for tsunami science. It’s safe to say that it had an enormous impact on research funding and it is responsible for a huge increase in scientific tsunami literature. The meetings will be a good occasion to share your research. more
On 24 September, 2013, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred in Balochistan, Pakistan. The quake caused intense ground motions and had dramatic consequences – hundreds of people died, and more than 100,000 lost their homes. A secondary effect which caught much attention in the international media was the birth of an island off the Pakistani coast – Zalzala Jazeera or Earthquake Island. Another effect which went almost completely unnoticed was a small tsunami in the Arabian Sea. The tsunami reached wave heights of around 1 m at the Omani coast. In a paper which was recently published in Geology, my colleagues and me document the tsunami effects in Oman. We conclude on a submarine slide off Pakistan as the likely trigger mechanism.
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A good number of interesting papers has been published during the last months, related to active tectonics, paleoseismology and tsunami research. Study sites include Oman, Italy, New Zealand, California, Cascadia, Scotia Sea, and Central Asia. Enjoy reading and tell me, if you miss some publications here!
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During the last three weeks I have been to Kazakhstan for paleoseismological field work and to summarize this journey: It was amazing! The trip was part of the Earthquakes without Frontiers project (EwF). This research project is funded by NERC and ESRC and aims on increasing the knowledge on earthquake hazards in Central Asia. The field work was lead by Richard Walker and scientists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the UK had a close look at fault scarps in the easternmost parts of the country. Our aim was to determine the slip rates of some of the longest and most prominent thrust and strike-slip faults in the area. more
Intraplate earthquakes are those that occur far away from plate boundaries in what is often also referred to as slowly deforming regions or stable continental regions (SCR). Seismicity there is comparably low and earthquake recurrence intervals can easily exceed thousands of years for individual faults. However, intraplate quakes do account for a significant number of earthquake fatalities and killed more people than those that happened at plate boundaries during the last 100 years (England & Jackson , 2011). A new book has been published a few days ago, dedicated to summarizing our knowledge of these seismic events. more
