Christoph Grützner

Felix‘ WoGE #293 led us to a giant dune field in northern Namibia, adding one more location to my where-I-need-to-go-list. The dunes stretch over hundreds of kilometers across southern Africa, which made it not too easy to find the actual spot. Luckily, I came across Heike’s thesis. Felix asked me to show some evidence for tsunamis in the Mediterranean in the next round, so find out whether I did or not. Should be rather easy. more

I found Tannis‘ WoGE #289 more or less by accident, just having a quick look and suddenly realizing that I am in the right area. It was more difficult to find some literature about the Bomapau and Kiriwina Islands. A great area, very high seismicity and a complex tectonic situation. Seems to be a fantastic destination for holidays as well, all those beautiful atolls must be great for divers. more

On Monday, 13 June, Christchurch was again rocked by earthquakes that caused damages and left people injured. Three significant events happened within two hours. At 1:00 UTC a mb5.0 event occured, followed by a Mw6.0 at 2:20 UTC and a M4.6 at 2:40 UTC. The strongest event caused instrumental intensities of up to VII close to the city. Update: Geonet reports a magnitude of 6.3. more

Sorry for starting with a non-geological link again, but it’s important: We have two more elements! Well, two more names in the periodic table at least: Flerovium (element 114, atomic mass 289) and Moscovium (element 116, atomic mass 292). Welcome! more

I am not sure if the geoscience community has realized that astronomy made three steps forward recently, so I’ll start out of topic. Three major astronomical problems have been solved! Really! more

Dear colleagues and friends,

the registration for the Corinth2011 workshop is open again. Due to additional capacities at the conference venue we can offer 20 more places! You can register via the paleoseismicity.org website. However, the abstract submission is closed. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Have a nice weekend and looking forward to seeing you in Corinth,

The Organization Committee

After we dealt with some faults in Greece, let’s move to Spain. The Ventas de Zafarraya Fault (VZF) west of the Granada basin (36.96° N, 4.14°W) has a beautiful morphologic expression and an exciting history. The fault bounds the Zafarraya polje to the south, with Quaternary sediments to the north (hanging wall) and limestones of the Internal Subbetics in the footwall. more

Because of the recent news, these Friday links will deal with earthquake prediction. As in the L’Aquila case and in the Judgment Day “prophecy”, a reliable prediction is not possible until now. Repeat: NOT POSSIBLE! more

This day’s Centerfault is the Sparta Fault in southern Greece (37.1°N 23.3°E). Being situated on the Peloponessus, the fault marks one of the most prominent geomorphological features of the peninsula. It is famous for the historical 464 BC earthquake that destroyed ancient Sparta. However,  the days of Spartian glory ended much later after a severe military defeat in the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, Sparta never fully recovered. more

Today’s Friday links concentrate on tsunamis. Recently, Pure and Applied Geophysics came up with quite a lot of tsunami papers, and I am sure that this decision was made before the Japan tsunami happened. Some papers fur sure are interesting for analysing past tsunamis and earthquake environmental effects.

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