Session “Historical earthquake research in Europe” at the 35th General Assembly of the ESC in Trieste, Italy

From 4-10 September, 2016, the 35th General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission (ESC) will be held in Trieste, Italy. Deadline for abstract submission is 30 April, early bird registration ends 31 May. The meeting covers a whole range of interesting topics, such as Earthquakes in regions of slow lithospheric deformation, active faulting and geodynamic data, secondary earthquake effects, regional studies and many more. Two sessions are probably especially interesting for the paleoseismology community:

Session 22 – Historical earthquake research in Europe

Conveners: Andrea Rovida , Christa Hammerl , Ina Cecic

Understanding of the present day seismicity and earthquake recurrence strongly relies on the knowledge of past earthquakes and their impact. Historical earthquake research involves manifold aspects that include, among others, the retrieval and analysis of historical sources, their interpretation in terms of earthquake effects and macroseismic intensities, the assessment of earthquake parameters, the compilation of earthquake catalogues and databases. This session aims at dealing with the wide range of topics related to historical earthquake reserach from different points of view, including methodological aspects, case-histories, lessons learned, applications, and multidisciplinary approaches. Contributions referring to either regional or local scale, high- or low-seismicity areas are welcome. Cross-border and transnational studies are particularly encouraged, in accordance with the scope of the ESC Working Group 01-12 “Archive of historical earthquake data for the European-Mediterranean area”.

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Session 24 – FAULT2SHA – an European working group to link faults and probabilistic seismic hazard assessment communities in Europe

Conveners: Oona Scotti , Laura Peruzza
Co-Conveners: Bruno Pace , Francesco Visini
The key questions we have in mind are: What is the best strategy to fill in the gap in knowledge and know-how in Europe when considering faults in seismic hazard assessments? Are field geologists providing the relevant information for seismic hazard assessment? Are seismic hazard analysts interpreting field data appropriately? Is the full range of uncertainties associated with the characterization of faults correctly understood and propagated in the computations? How can fault-modellers contribute to a better representation of the long-term behaviour of fault-networks in seismic hazard studies?

To try answering these questions, an informal working group met in Paris in November 2014, partly financed by the Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety. It motivated some exchanges between field geologists, fault modellers and seismic hazard practitioners, but what emerged is that field geologists are not necessarily familiar with probabilistic seismic hazard assessment methods and needs, and that practitioners do not necessarily propagate the “full” uncertainty associated with the fault characterization. The group met again in 2015 in Chieti (Italy), to share concepts and ideas through specific exercises on a test case study. In 2016 at EGU in Wien, a session NH4.5/SM2.7 will be dedicated to share solutions and problems of seismic source characterizations in seismic hazard assessment, and to debate on the peculiarities of using faults in SHA in Europe.

We believe that for the time being of ESC 35rd General Assembly, the European community at large should be ready to contribute to the discussion, providing some answers to the previous questions.

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