Klaus, Ben, Sascha and me went to visit our colleague Gösta at the GUtech in the Sultanate of Oman. We did some fieldwork for our project which deals with coastal changes. Parts of the Omani coast subside, others appear to be stable or are even uplifted. This might be due to large scaled crustal movements (the Makran Subduction zone is nearby) and/or regional effects. We are trying to find good proxies for reconstructing the Holocene sealevel and climate changes. Additionally, we need to get a grip on the neotectonics that affect the coastal areas. more
A very interesting paper by Oskin et al. (2012) published in Science (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6069/702.full) a few days ago shows how the M 7.2 Mexico earthquake in April, 2010, has changed the landscape down to a few cm. The El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake produced a 120-kilometer-long multifault rupture through northernmost Baja California, Mexico. more
Now that the abstract submission deadline has passed you might be interested in somehow paleoseismicity-related sessions at the EGU2012. I decided to group the session by topic and my choice is absolutely based on personal interests. Sorry if I don’t mention every earthquake-related session.
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The sun dominated the geo-news this week. A very strong coronal mass ejection (or was it a sunquake…?) occured and hit Earth’s magnetic field on 24 January. A geomagnetic storm (Kp=5) lead to intense and beautiful northern lights around the Arctic Circle. The web is full of great images, the best ones that I came across can be found here at spaceweather and at National Geographic. more
Sitting in an office after sunset and browsing any kind of Earth Explorer makes a lot of people think about lovely places far away. We geoscientists are in a quite comfortable stuation with field trips and meetings all over the world. But maybe sometimes there are thoughts about places you haven’t been to. I would like to introduce this section as a suggestion for your next holiday or even field trip with bits and pieces of culture, scenery and geology. more
The University of Oklahoma has set up a “Global Geo-Referenced Field Photo Library“. Once registered, users may upload and geotag their (geological) field photos. Additionally, you can provide information on the geology/geomorphology. This could become a nice database if more people start uploading their images. Imagine you have a braided river system and you can compare different years and seasons. It’s up to you if you want to make your pictures public or if you prefer to keep them private.
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Job Description
The Geosciences Center at the National Autonomous University of Mexico invites applications for Assistant Professor/Researcher Position with expertise in Paleoseismology and Neotectonics. Applicants are required to have a PhD, basic knowledge of Spanish (no fluency is needed), and expertise in field-based Paleoseismology or closely related fields. Applicants with some experience in Landslides effects and evaluation are particularly encouraged.
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Recently, scientists from Switzerland came up with the news that fractured bedrock might amplify earthquake shaking. The say they observed an increase by factor 10, which seems huge. I knew amplifying by sediment basins, but this is new to me.
100 years ago on 6 January, Alfred Wegener presented his continental drift theory for the first time. The Blogosphere was full with articles, among them: more
Matthew chose to take us to the Baikal Rift with his WoGE #326. The Olkhon island is almost as large as Madeira and has some fascinating tectonic features, thanks again for pointing me to that great spot, Matthew! Now it’s time for a new challenge. Find the following feature on GoogleEarth, post the location and a brief description of the geology in the comments, and all the fame will be yours. more
After all the Christmas and New Year´s parties, and of course, a lot of custom made food, I gained 5 kilos! However, this is also the time to present your gifts and presents. Have you got something very special? I did. more
