Shopping is stressful, reading new papers is exciting. Why not lean back in your favourite comfy chair, enjoy a hot tea and see what’s new in paleoseismology and related fields? These are the latest papers on paleoseismology, earthquakes, and active tectonics.

The recent publication of a paper on the Weitin Thrust (Papua New Guinea) by Chen, Milliner and Avouac (Fig. 1) gave me the opportunity to dig out and look back to some notes I wrote few months ago. Chen et al. use optical image correlation to document coseismic surface ruptures along the Weitin Thrust occurred in a Mw 8.0 event in 2000 and in a Mw 7.7 event in 2019. The ruptures overlap along a 20-km long portion, with 3-4 m of slip (Fig. 2).

Text: Gösta Hoffmann with contributions by Michaela Falkenroth, Valeska Decker, Bastian Schneider and Christoph Grützner

“The beaches in Oman are pristine.” What sounds like an introductory sentence to a tourist brochure has scientific significance. Natural conditions without anthropogenic overprint are characteristic for vast stretches along the 1700 km coastline of Oman from the Strait of Hormuz in the north to the border of Yemen in the south. This situation allows geological research addressing Quaternary sea-level change on various timescales spanning from minutes to millennia. Over the last couple of years, we carried out research funded by the Omani Government and the German Research Foundation (DFG). Our findings are currently published in a series of papers (Schneider et al. 2018; Ermertz et al. 2019; Falkenroth et al. 2019, subm.; Hoffmann et al. 2020a, b) and are briefly summarised here.

Today we have a number of studies on “classic” paleoseismology, but also a fair share of tsunami and historical seismicity/archaeoseismology research. Plus, some very interesting papers on methods and concepts. Not to forget the first one in the list that presents an extremely useful surface rupture database. I may write a long blog post on this one, soon. Enjoy reading!

There is an interesting job offer at the Scientific Service Gravimetry and Seismology of the Royal Observatory of Belgium and the Unit of Physical Geography and Quaternary of the University of Liège:

A postdoctoral researcher in earthquake geology and tectonic geomorphology

Please find the advert here:

…or see this link: https://www.egu.eu/jobs/2629/postdoctoral-researcher-in-earthquake-geology-and-tectonic-geomorphology/

Deadline for application is 29 November, 2019.

The INQUA Summer School on Active Tectonics and Tectonic Geomorphology was held in Prague from 24-27 September, 2019. This summer school was run by INQUA‘s IFG EGSHaz as part of the TERPRO commission. The event was hosted by the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Dpt. Neotectonics and Thermochronology. Main organizer was IFG co-leader Petra Štěpančíková. We would also like to thank MSc. Jakub Stemberk, Monika Hladká, Jana Šreinová, the deputy director Dr. Filip Hartvich, and all the staff involved for their professionalism and warm hospitality. Overall, 50 participants and 14 lecturers from 25 countries participated in the summer school.

Dear colleagues,

It is with great sadness that we received note from the passing of our dear colleague Victor Hugo Gorduño Monroy.

Victor was a close friend to many of us and an outstanding person in the Mexican scientific community. He authored a great number of publications on the geology of Mexico, on tectonics, volcanism, and hazards. His work did not only advance geosciences, but also had huge impact on society. He was tireless in helping to raise the awareness for disasters and to promote geoscience in the public. We will never forget his enthusiasm and his dedication in the field.

He had the leading role in geosciences at the Michoacan University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo and taught hundreds of students during his career.

Victor organized the first PATA days outside Europe in November 2012 in Morelia in commemoration of the 1912 Acambay Earthquake, which was an absolute pleasure and a great success.

Our thoughts are with his family and with everyone who worked closely with him.

The Michoacan University of San Nicolás de Hidalgo released the following letter of condolence:

El día de hoy sufrimos la pérdida de una de nuestras más sólidas columnas institucionales. Informamos con profunda tristeza que el Dr. Víctor Hugo Garduño Monroy falleció esta mañana y con él perdimos a nuestro Líder Académico y Fundador de la Maestría en Geociencias y Planificación del Territorio y del Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. El Dr. Garduño fue un incansable investigador de la Geología de nuestro Estado y del Occidente de México. Formador profesional de centenares de estudiantes a nivel profesional y posgrado. Ganador de la Presea José María Morelos y Pavón y Primer Investigador en Obtener la Presea Vasco de Quiroga en nuestra querida Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. Hoy se fue uno de los mejores investigadores de nuestra Universidad, de nuestro Estado y de nuestro País. Siempre será recordado por el cariño a su profesión, a sus estudiantes y compañeros. Descanse en Paz.

Today we have a lot of papers on historical events, some great classical paleoseismology studies, and seismic hazard stuff. Enjoy reading!

Moderate to strong earthquakes commonly produce secondary effects (landslides, liquefaction, tsunamis), which worsen the impact of the seismic event, both during the emergency and recovery phases.

Landslides can be triggered by events of M above 5 or so, and stronger events can produce thousands of landslides. Landslide inventories were compiled for dozens of events and the relations between Mw and maximum distance or area affected by landslides have been analyzed (e.g., Keefer, 1984; Rodriguez et al., 1999). On the other hand, the total area affected by landslides is one of the metrics used to assign the ESI intensity (Environmental Seismic Intensity; Michetti et al., 2007).

The Hokudan 2020 International Symposium on Active Faulting will take place from 13-17 January in Awaji City, Awaji Island, Japan. The symposium is held every five years. The 2020 event commemorates the 25th anniversary of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. All important information on this meeting is available here: https://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/kojiok/hokudan2020.html

This event is supported by INQUA – the International Union for Quaternary Research and its TERPRO commission. For more information, please contact Koji Okumura (kojiok@hiroshima-u.ac.jp) or Shinji Toda (toda@irides.tohoku.ac.jp).

Deadline for abstract submission is 1 December, 2019.