Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan and home to ~2 million people, is a rapidly growing, vibrant city, beautifully situated at the foothills of the mighty Zailisky Alatau, the northernmost mountain range of the Tien Shan at this longitude. The city sits on a huge alluvial fan with the snow-capped mountains in the background, reaching 5,000 m elevation. Almaty has suffered from earthquakes in its young history: in 1887, the Verny earthquake with a magnitude of about 7.3 had its epicentre a few kilometres west of the city but did not produce surface ruptures (Verny is the old name of Almaty). Only two years later, the M8 Chilik earthquake ruptured the surface 100 km to the southeast of Almaty. Finally, Almaty was heavily damaged by the 1911 Chon Kemin earthquake with a magnitude of ~8, which occurred on the southern flank of the Zailisky Alatau. In our new paper we now report on a fault that did not rupture in historical times, but surely did so in the Holocene – and this fault is right beneath the city. more

Today’s list of latest papers includes some classic paleoseismology stuff, interesting offshore studies, and a good portion of fault physics and geomorphology. Oh, and icebergs. Enjoy!

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More than 130 participants from 21 different countries, about one third of which ECRs and/or DCRs, participated in the 8^th PATA Days in New Zealand. The meeting started with an icebreaker on 12 November, followed by a field trip on 13 November to visit the northern surface ruptures of the M7.8 earthquake of November 2016. After that, three days were devoted to scientific presentations, poster sessions, and discussion. A public lecture by Phaedra Upton, Daniela Pantosti, Ursula Cochran, Caroline Orchiston, and Tom Rockwell attracted a large number of Blenheim residents. more

The next TSK meeting (Tektonik – Strukturgeologie – Kristallingeologie) will be held in Jena, Germany, from 19-25 March, 2018. We have put together a great programme, including 2 days of workshops (photogrammetry, paleoseismology, balanced X-sections etc.), two wonderful field trips, and interesting sessions. If this isn’t convincing enough, check out the list of invited speakers! Come and  visit me in Jena!

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Time is running and the publishing machine doesn’t stop. Another month has passed, and here we are with a whole bunch of new and existing papers on paleoseismology, active tectonics, tsunami, and archaeosesimology. Lot’s of stuff from the Tien Shan this time, including my very own paper about which I will blog in detail later. Enjoy reading! more

Dear friends and colleagues,

The PATA Days will return to Europe next year! Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Thessaloniki Earthquakes, the meeting will be held in Greece from 25-30 June, 2018. Save the dates! Spyros Pavlides and Alex Chatzipetros will organize the scientific sessions from 25-27 June, and a summer school is planned for 28-30 June. After visiting the active faults of the US (2016) and New Zealand (2017), we will see some great sites in northern Greece. After that we plan to explore what active tectonics do look like in Argentina and Chile in 2020 (Huge thrusts!). More information and a 1st circular will follow very soon. See you all in Greece in June, γεια μας!

On 21 August an M_D4.0 earthquake hit the Island of Ischia, Italy. The event occurred at a depth of only ~2 km. Despite the low magnitude, the earthquake had dramatic consequences, and two people were killed by collapsing houses. The INGV EMERGEO working group and CNR-IAMC have now published a report on the coseismic effects of this earthquake, which include ground cracks and mass movements. The full report can be found at earthquakegeology.com or downloaded as a pdf here (3.15 MB).

Please cite the report as: EMERGEO Working Group, Nappi et al. (2017). The august 21, 2017 Isola di Ischia (Casamicciola) earthquake: Coseismic effects, doi:10.5281/zenodo.1003188

A paleoseismological field workshop on “Soft-sediment deformation structures and palaeoseismic phenomena in the South-eastern Baltic Region” will be held in Lithuania from 17-21 Septmeber, 2018. The workshop is organized by the Lithuanian Geological Survey, the Geological Society of Lithuania, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and Klaipėda University, Lithuania. more

These are the latest papers on paleoseismology, tsunami, and active tectonics. Lots of stuff on the Mediterranean, but we have studies from all over the world. Enjoy reading! more

The technical workshop on Internet Macroseismology will take place in beautiful Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 14-15 November, 2017. Please note that the dates have changed.

Deadline for abstract submission is 20 September. Find more information in the second circular (download, pdf, 550 kb), or visit the website for registration: https://form.jotformeu.com/72052334536350