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It’s already September, time is flying – at least for me. This is the latest list of papers that deal with paleoseismology and active tectonics. If you published a study that would fit in here, please get in touch. And if you would like to write about your paleoseismology research or present ongoing project, please also don’t hesitate to drop me a mail. 

SSA’s journal Seismological Research Letters has issued a call for papers for a focus section on the destructive 2026 Venezuela and Colombia Earthquakes. Deadline for submissions is 21 December, 2026. Guest editors: Franck Audemard, Benazir Orihuela, Omar J. Pérez, Jorge G. F. Crempien, Carlos E. Reinoza Gómez, and Manuel Alberto Florez. 

On 24 June, two shallow earthquakes with magnitudes of M_W7.2 and M_W7.5, respectively, ruptured the coast of northern Venezuela in close succession, leaving thousands of people dead. On 10 August, an M_W7.5 event in ~100 km depth shook western Colombia, leading to hundreds of fatalities and the destruction of thousands of buildings.

This time we have, among others, some nice papers on recent and not-so-recent seismites, very interesting methodological studies on paleoseismology and tectonic geomorphology, some cool coastal/offshore paleoseismology, and a few articles on earthquake geology from a hazard perspective. Enjoy reading!

Guest blog by Christopher B. DuRoss from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The Great Salt Lake is the largest low-relief, terminal basin in the western United States. In a collaborative effort led by earthquake geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Hazards Science Center (Golden, Colorado) and marine geophysicists from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (Santa Cruz, California), we set out to explore whether this shallow, biogenic carbonate basin holds acoustic and sedimentary archives of past earthquake ruptures (DuRoss et al., 2026).

For some reason–and it may very well just be my personal bias–today’s list has a lot of studies on active tectonics of the Americas and Central Asia. But then the western US and the Andes plus Central Asia make up a good portion of the total seismic moment release apart from subduction quakes, so perhaps this is not unusual. At some point I’d like to make a world map showing seismic moment release vs. number and distribution of scientific studies…
Enjoy reading and please let me know if I’ve missed something.

This month we have many case studies from all around the world, including classical paleoseismology, historical data, and tectonic geomorphology. But there are also studies more leaning towards the methodological side of our discipline, and who would have thought that an entire new type of fault systems was just discovered? Enjoy reading!

The conference proceedings of the 13th International INQUA meeting on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archaeoseismology – PATA Days 2026 are now published and available for download: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20043287.  The volume contains all submitted and reviewed extended and short abstracts on 135 pages. The meeting was held in Antigua Guatemala from 30 Jan – 05 Feb, 2026. 

Cite the volume as:

Gordillo, C, Flores, O., Grützner, C., Niemi, T. M., & Obrist-Farner, J. (2026). Proceedings of the 13th International INQUA meeting on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archaeoseismology – PATA Days 2026. 30 Jan – 05 Feb, 2026, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodod.20043287.

You can find the field trip guides (and also the abstract volume) for download here: http://pata-days.org/downloads/ – as well as those of all previous PATA meetings. Enjoy reading!

Here is the latest paper list with a nice variety of topics and also geographically quite divers I think. Enjoy reading, and let me know if I have missed a paper.

This month’s list has a couple of studies on the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes and the Mediterranean area. Also included are a few methodological studies that might be of interest to the paleoseismology community. Enjoy reading!

The Motagua Fault in Guatemala is part of the North American – Caribbean plate boundary. It ruptured in a M7.5 earthquake in 1976, killing 23,000 people and causing ca. 230 km of surface ruptures. Very little was known, however, about previous strong earthquakes on this fault. In a new study, we identify five surface-rupturing events in the last 1300 years, including the 1976 quake. We opened a paleoseismological trench and compared our results with archaeological information from nearby sites and historical earthquake data.