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Guest blog by Christopher B. DuRoss from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The Great Salt Lake is the largest low-relief, terminal basin in the western United States. In a collaborative effort led by earthquake geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Hazards Science Center (Golden, Colorado) and marine geophysicists from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (Santa Cruz, California), we set out to explore whether this shallow, biogenic carbonate basin holds acoustic and sedimentary archives of past earthquake ruptures (DuRoss et al., 2026).

For some reason–and it may very well just be my personal bias–today’s list has a lot of studies on active tectonics of the Americas and Central Asia. But then the western US and the Andes plus Central Asia make up a good portion of the total seismic moment release apart from subduction quakes, so perhaps this is not unusual. At some point I’d like to make a world map showing seismic moment release vs. number and distribution of scientific studies…
Enjoy reading and please let me know if I’ve missed something.

This month we have many case studies from all around the world, including classical paleoseismology, historical data, and tectonic geomorphology. But there are also studies more leaning towards the methodological side of our discipline, and who would have thought that an entire new type of fault systems was just discovered? Enjoy reading!

Here is the latest paper list with a nice variety of topics and also geographically quite divers I think. Enjoy reading, and let me know if I have missed a paper.

This month’s list has a couple of studies on the 2023 Türkiye earthquakes and the Mediterranean area. Also included are a few methodological studies that might be of interest to the paleoseismology community. Enjoy reading!

The Motagua Fault in Guatemala is part of the North American – Caribbean plate boundary. It ruptured in a M7.5 earthquake in 1976, killing 23,000 people and causing ca. 230 km of surface ruptures. Very little was known, however, about previous strong earthquakes on this fault. In a new study, we identify five surface-rupturing events in the last 1300 years, including the 1976 quake. We opened a paleoseismological trench and compared our results with archaeological information from nearby sites and historical earthquake data. 

The 13th International INQUA Meeting on Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics and Archaeoseismology (PATA Days) was held from 2-5 February, 2026, in Antigua Guatemala. We commemorated the catastrophic M7.5 earthquake of 4 February, 1976. A pre-meeting field trip from 30 Jan – 1 Feb took the participants to several paleoseismological and archaeoseismological sites along the Motagua Fault, the plate boundary between the North American and Caribbean Plates. After the meeting, another field trip focussed on the neotectonics of the triple junction west of Guatemala City. 16 ECRs and DCRs were supported with INQUA travel grants organized by TERPRO’s project CHAMP. Here’s a short summary about the field trips and the meeting. 

A new month, a new list. Those who attended the PATA Days in Guatemala (a report will follow!) will recognise the first three papers. There is a lot more interesting science to read this time. Enjoy and let us know if we’ve missed something. Oh – and many thanks to all of you who send links to their papers once published.

Several Special Issues (SI) are currently open for contributions in paleoseismology, active tectonics, and related fields:

BSSA: Quantifying the Long-term Prehistoric Earthquake Record: Advances and Applications. Deadline: 1 June, 2026. Guest editors: Rich Briggs, Alex Hatem, Yann Klinger, Nicola Litchfield, Dee Ninis, & Mark Stirling. https://www.seismosoc.org/publications/calls-papers/bssa-call-for-papers-10/

BSSA: Complex Multi-Fault Earthquakes. Deadline: 1 July, 2026. Guest editors: Ryo Ando, Zoë Mildon, Kevin Milner, Vasiliki Mouslopoulou, & Andy Nicol. https://www.seismosoc.org/publications/calls-papers/bssa-call-for-papers-11/

Earthquake Research Advances: Active Tectonics of the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Case Studies on Earthquake, Volcano and Tsunami Induced Hazards. Deadline: 31 March, 2026. Guest editors: Tuncay Taymaz, Aldo Zollo, Hongfeng Yang, Teng Wang, Andrea Billi, Daniele Cheloni. https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/earthquake-research-advances/call-for-papers/active-tectonics-of-the-eastern-mediterranean-region-case-studies-on-earthquake-volcano-and-tsunami-induced-hazards/

This is the latest list of papers on paleoearthquakes and related fields. Enjoy reading and let us know in case we’ve missed something.