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The UNESCO World Heritage site “Caliphal City of Medina Azahara” in southern Spain was built in the 10^th Century by the first Caliph of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman III. The destruction and consequent abandonment of the city were thought to result from a civil war between 1009/10 AD. In a new paper, Rodríguez Pascua et al. investigate the role of an earthquake in the sudden abandonment and ruin of the city. They identified eleven types of Earthquake Archaeological Effects (EAEs), including dropped key stones in arches, tilted walls, conjugated fractures in brick-made walls, conjugated fractures and folds in regular pavements, and dipping broken corners in columns. More than 150 structural measurements imply mean ground motion direction of N140°–160° E. This indicates oriented damage to the buildings. From recent events such as the Lorca Earthquake we know that this pattern can be caused by earthquakes. The authors conclude that probably two strong earthquakes with intensities ≥VIII MSK/EMS occurred in the 11^th and 12^th centuries AD.

This months edition of the paper list surely has something interesting for everybody – a wide variety of papers both geographically and thematically. There are classical paleoseismology studies, submarine and tsunami stuff, archaeoseismology, fault physics, and much more from all around the globe. Enjoy reading and let me know if I have missed something.

I hope you all had a wonderful start into 2023. May it bring you health and success, great field trips, lots of data, and nice reviewers. Here’s the latest list of papers that already made it through review. Enjoy reading!

Finally, after Posidi, Greece, 2018, we had a successful PATA Days meeting! The meeting in 2019 was cancelled due to organisational problems and we held a student summer school instead in Prague. All plans were set for Chile in 2020, but it had to be cancelled twice because of Covid-19. Now it finally happened! The organisers Magali Rizza and Stéphane Baize and their wonderful team took us to Aix-en-Provence…

Make sure to scroll down to learn about the future of PATA!

This is the latest list of papers on paleoseismology and related fields. This time we have a lot of new studies on Eastern and Central Asia – very interesting reads! Enjoy reading and let me know if I have missed something.

Today we have a number of articles on fault physics and some papers that use novel or unconventional ways to address large earthquakes and their proxies. Enjoy reading!

This time I found a lot of studies on tsunamis, including a whole book on tsunamis that affected the Iberian Peninsula. Then there’s classical paleoseismology of course and tectonic geomorphology, but also some discussion on science communication and news about earthquakes in the European Alps. Enjoy reading!

As Francesca has reported in her latest post, a lot of trenching is currently going on all around the world. Here you can read about previous trenching results that have now made it through review. Enjoy reading and have a great field season!

Our paper list is full of classic paleoseismic trenching studies from all over the world – fascinating to see how quickly the number of trenches is rising. We also have papers on tools & methodology, and on earthquake proxies that open new possibilities to study past large events. Don’t miss Ferrario et al. who compiled 15 years of research on earthquake environmental effects!

Another month has passed, new studies on earthquakes and active tectonics have been published. Enjoy reading!
By the way: Registration for the PATA Days in France is now open, but you’ll have to hurry: https://patadays-2022.sciencesconf.org/