On 3 March, 2021, an earthquake of magnitude M_W6.3 hit northern Thessaly in Greece. According to the USGS, the hypocentre was at 11.5 km depth. Normal faulting occurred either on a plane dipping 55° to the SW or on a plane dipping 36° to the NE. The quake caused a lot of damage in the village of Tyrnavos (Τύρναβος) and the surrounding areas. Widespread liquefaction was also observed. On 4 March, 2021, a mb5.8 aftershock occurred. Our colleagues S. Pavlides, A. Chatzipetros, S. Sboras, E. Kremastas and A. Chatziioannou have prepared a first field report in which they document the environmental effects of the quake.

The 2021 meeting on “Intraplate Active Tectonics and Seismicity in Central/Western Europe“ will take place on 23 March, 2021. These meetings were held before traditionally in several countries, this year it will be held  via Zoom. The meeting used to be organised in the Euregio area, Aachen/NRW, Belgium and the Netherlands, but is now opened up to include more regions, as there is a joint topic that connects many places: intraplate tectonics.

A recent study investigated disturbances that preserved in the upper 260 m of a 723-m deep core drilled on the crest of a thrust-cored anticline in the western Qaidam Basin, NE Tibet.

1. Key Points:
• We interpret micro-faults, soft-sediment deformation, slumps, and detachment surfaces as paleoearthquake/tectonic indicators
• The core records five seismite clusters between 3.6 and 2.7 Ma, revealing episodic thrusting in relation to intense regional deformation
• During the clusters, regional deformation was concentrated more in the fold-and-thrust system than along regional major strike-slip faults

Today’s list is again very long. It contains a lot of really cool stuff from Central Europe and the Alps, and many interesting studies from China and Central Asia. Connoisseurs of American tectonics will also be happy I promise. Plus, quite a number of papers on methods and earthquake/fault physics in general. Enjoy reading!

Ray Weldon from the University of Oregon will talk about How better geology can improve seismic hazard estimates in Kyrgyzstan. The webinar is open for everyone interested and will be held via zoom (https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/8941887790 Meeting-ID: 894 188 7790; Password: 820815).

Date: 22 February, 2021

Time: 3 pm GMT (7 am San Francisco; 3 pm London; 4 pm Berlin & Paris; 8:30 pm Delhi; 9 pm Almaty; 11 pm Beijing)

Following the 2020-12-29 magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Croatia, a late breaking session was accepted by EGU. The session The Dec. 2020 earthquake sequence in Petrinja, Croatia, and its seismotectonic and geodynamic environments will be convened by Stéphane Baize, Sara Amoroso, Lucilla Benedetti, Petra Jamšek Rupnik, Branko Kordić, Snjezana Markušić, and Bruno Pace. The deadline for abstracts is 28 February, 2021. Abstracts need to be send to the conveners by email. You’ll find the email addresses on the session website.

A recent study investigated turbidites that preserved in a 457-m deep ICDP drilling from the Dead Sea depocenter. This is the first work to show detailed information on turbidites in the region.

1. Key Points:

• Seismic origin for prehistoric turbidites is established by analyzing the underlying in situ deformation structures for each turbidite
• Data validate a previous hypothesis that soft-sediment deformation formed at the sediment-water interface in the Dead Sea
• The new approach permits a more confident geohazard assessment by improving the completeness of a paleoseismic archive

The Seismology and Geomorphology group at Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, CO, has just posted announcements for jobs in neotectonics for geologists. These jobs will close when they have received 125 applications. See all details here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/591713100

and here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/591779300

The recognition of sedimentological traces of earthquakes in the form of seismites within Pleistocene sediments is the main objective of the GREBAL project (Recognition of traces left by earthquakes in Pleistocene sediments affected by glacio- isostatic rebound in the Baltic Sea Basin). The investigations focus primarily on Poland, Germany, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Project leader Małgorzata (Gosia) Pisarska-Jamroży has summed up new results from this international research effort.

This time we have a lot of papers on the active tectonics of the Americas, especially along their west coast. Of course on the west coast you say? Sure, but the recent M5.6 in Guyana, a shallow thrust event in a seemingly aseismic area, reminded us that such quakes can basically happen everywhere and at any time – they are just rare and hard to find in the geological record. Enjoy reading!