There is a wonderful, amazing, extraordinary postdoc position open at Oxford University: Palaeoseismology of Central Asian Earthquake Ruptures.

We seek to appoint a postdoctoral research assistant to undertake investigations of large earthquakes within the interior of Asia. The post is part of a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust called EROICA. The successful candidate will work closely with Professor Richard Walker, and will join a vibrant community of active tectonics researchers in Oxford within the Earthquake Geology and Geodesy group.

The researcher will be responsible for the detailed mapping of palaeo-earthquake ruptures, the construction of slip distributions from individual earthquakes, the analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, the construction of digital topographic models, and the selection of sites for long-term slip-rate determination using field investigation. The PDRA will also be involved in planning and carrying out fieldwork to verify remote-sensing observations, to collect samples for dating, and to excavate and interpret palaeo-seismic trenches. We expect the researcher to help in supervising doctoral and masters student research projects, in addition to undertaking their own research.

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The 7th International Colloquium on Historical Earthquakes & Paleoseismology Studies will be held from 4-6 November, 2019, in Barcelona (Spain). The conference website is now online (https://cloud.agoraevent.fr/Site/134404/5997/Event).

Important dates:

15 February 2019: Opening for submission for abstracts

15 September 2019: Deadline for submission of abstracts

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The 6th Int’l Colloquium on Historical earthquakes & Paleoseismology studies took place in October 2018 in Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium. Our colleagues Koen Van Noten, Thierry Camelbeeck, and  Thomas Lecocq have put together a nice summary of this event, pointing out future challenges in the field:

From 24 to 26 October 2018 55 scientists from 14 countries gathered at Han-sur-Lesse in Belgium for the annual gathering of the Colloquium on Historical earthquakes and Seismology. During this well attended conference, four invited keynote talks, 27 oral and 16 poster contributions were presented. Topics in this multidisciplinary colloquium spanned four themes. The first three themes are recurrent themes in this Colloquium series and focused on (1) Seismology and Historical earthquakes, (2) Paleoseismology and (3) Archaeoseismology. The organisers also specifically wanted to focus on (4) Earthquakes and natural caves; a discipline in which major progress was recently made. This topic was heavily debated during the field trip to the Han-sur-Lesse and Rochefort caves on 25 October 2018. Hereinafter we summarise what was presented (see program) by the attendants and which challenges seismologists – and friends – face these days.

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POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITION/ UPPER PLATE DEFORMATION – MEXICAN SUBDUCTION, AVAILABLE MARCH 2020

The following open position might be of interest to the Active tectonics and paleoseismology community:

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Assistant for a 12 month fixed term appointment working on the exciting UNAM-CONACYT-funded project on “Spatial and Temporal Variations of Upper Plate Deformation across the Guerrero portion of the Mexican Subduction Zone” at the Institute of Geography and the Tsunami and Paleoseismology Laboratory, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City Campus. The candidate will pursue fundamental and applied research into the assessment of both temporal and spatial vertical crustal deformation associated with both slow (interseismic) and rapid (coseismic) crustal deformation across the inner forearc region of the central Mexican subduction zone on the Guerrero sector, where the Cocos plate underthrusts the North American plate. The candidate will be responsible for the development and execution of laboratory and field research, conduct studies to develop a model of long-term deformation, writing reports and papers.

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New year, new science! These are the latest papers on paleoseismology, earthquakes, and active tectonics. Enjoy reading!

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These are great opportunities for PhD students and postdocs. A huge research programme in South Korea is now devoted to investigate the active faults of the country and to understand the seismic hazard, after two damaging earthquakes hit the country recently.

Recruiting PhD Research Student and Postdoctoral Researcher

Starting from March 2019, ‘The Korean Active Fault Research Group (KAFRG)’ and ‘The Institute of Active Fault and Earthquake Hazard Mitigation (IAFEHM)’ at Pukyong National University in South Korea are looking for competent and enthusiastic research students and geologists for PhD and Post-doc.

Our research group and institute are currently leading active fault investigations and researches in South Korea. We also have been implementing collaborative researches with various domestic and overseas universities and research institutes. The ongoing main projects of our research group are ‘Investigation of active faults on the Korean Peninsula’ and ‘The safety evaluation for geological conditions and earthquake hazard for nuclear power plant sites and waste disposal facilities.’

The initial employment – contract period is 1 year, and depending on the researcher’s achievement and contribution to the group the working year(s) can be extended. The annual salary will be arranged according to the researcher’s research experiences and the performances. more

The 34th IAS meeting on sedimentology will take place in Rome from 10-13 September, 2019. There are several sessions that are of interest to the paleoseismology community, and session 7.11 is especially devoted to past earthquakes:

7.11: The sedimentary record of earthquakes, tsunamis, and catastrophic/extreme events.

Massimo Moretti (Bari University, Italy); Jasper Knight (Wits University, South Africa); Giuseppe Mastronuzzi (University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy); Andreas Vött (Mainz University, Germany).

Extreme/catastrophic events are by definition rare and episodic, but they have occurred frequently throughout Earth’s history. High magnitude events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, large-scale landslides, extreme floods and storms, extraterrestrial impacts, etc. often leave a sedimentary imprint in the geological record. Nevertheless, recognition of extreme event traces in sedimentary successions is often difficult and may be ambiguous.
This session is focused on examples of seismites, tsunamites, and other sedimentary deposits that have been formed by extreme events. We encourage contributions including field-based examples discussing different approaches on data analysis and interpretation of these deposits. We also welcome studies on analogical modelling and numerical simulation for relationships between triggering processes and products of extreme events.

Deadline for early bird registration is 30 May 2019, abstract submission closes on 30 March.

Conference website: http://iasroma2019.org/

As every year just after the holidays, the abstract deadline for the EGU General Assembly in Vienna (April 7-12, 2019)  is approaching.  This year, it is on Thursday, 10 January 2019, 13:00 Central European Time.

This year, it seems that there is a strong focus on Earthquake Tectonics and Crustral Deformation (TS5) with 11(!) sessions focusing on this topic:

• Paleoseismicity, active faulting, surface deformation, and the implications on seismic hazard assessment (Fault2SHA) (co-organized) 
• Understanding fault growth and interaction over a range of spatial and temporal scales
• Integrated approaches to bridge Long-term Tectonics and Earthquake cycles: Observations, Experiments, and Models (co-organized)
• Earthquakes, active tectonics, and seismic hazard in regions of slow lithospheric deformation (co-organized)
• Crucial characteristics of earthquakes that generate tsunamis from geologic observations and numerical models (co-organized)
• Active Tectonics and Geodynamics of Anatolia
• Understanding large subduction earthquakes and tsunamigenesis by integrating geological and geophysical observations, laboratory results, and numerical modeling (co-organized)
• The Mechanics of Faulting from shallow to deep earthquakes: Interplay between multiple length scales. (co-organized)
• Earthquake foreshocks: identification, observation, modeling, and lessons to be learned (co-organized)
• Earthquake Source Processes: Recent Advances in Observation, Imaging, and Modeling (co-organized)
• Long-term evidence from past great earthquakes: critical observations and constraints for seismic hazard assessment (co-organized)

Each of them sounds exciting and worth contributing, so I am looking forward to a packed programm of earthquake tectonic – themed sessions!

However, if you cannot decide where to submit your abstract to, please consider our session on “Paleoseismicity, active faulting, surface deformation, and the implications on seismic hazard assessment” (TS5.1/GM4.5/NH4.16/SM3.10) at the following link:

https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2019/abstractsubmission/30171

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Save the date: The 7th International Colloquium on Historical earthquakes & paleoseismology studies will be held from 4-6 November, 2019, in Barcelona (Spain). The colloquium is organized by RESIF (French seismologic and geodetic network), and ICGC (cartographic and geological institute of Catalonia) with POCRISC Project. Further information will be available in January.

These are the latest papers paleoseismology, earthquakes, and active tectonics. Happy New Year! more