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The Science and Art of Paleoseismology
Images of Paleoearthquake Records From Around The World
Edited by Francesca R. Cinti, Daniela Pantosti, David P. Schwartz, Yann Klinger
Printed in 2025

Our primary objective in publishing the book “The Science and Art of Paleoseismology” is to present observations through images of individual earthquake surface ruptures exposed in trenches across active faults in shallow continental crust across the globe.

With this book we aim to provide young researchers, students, and working professionals undertaking paleoseismologic studies with images of the variable expression of surface fault ruptures in trench exposures and their interpretations. The book contains examples from strike-slip, reverse, and normal fault ruptures in a range of tectonic settings as well as descriptions of the criteria and tools used for rupture identification, thereby strengthening the interpretation of surface-fault rupture histories and earthquake recurrence.

The book includes 28 case studies by a large number of contributors. 13 are on strike-slip, 6 on reverse, and 9 on normal faults. Each rupture example is developed in four pages of photos, trench logs, maps, and text.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the book you can get it for free but you need to cover the shipping fees. Please send a request to the email address below including the number of copies you are willing to receive and your complete postal address. We will provide you with instructions (size, weight, address, etc.) for preparing the pre-paid shipping label.
scienceandartpaleoseismology@gmail.com

A digital copy of the book is planned at a later date. Looking forward to getting your feedback

Francesca, Daniela, David, and Yann

This week’s list of papers has some interesting work on soft-sediment deformation and quite a number of studies from the Mediterranean region. But you’ll also find something interesting if you’re more into earthquakes in the Americas, South Korea and Central and Eastern Asia. Enjoy reading!

The workshop Land-to-Sea Shaking Studies – Unlocking the full potential of subaqueous paleoseismology at active plate boundaries will be held from 21-24 October, 2025, at National Taiwan University, Taipei. This event is part of the Magellan Plus workshop series and will include keynote talks, orals and posters, breakout discussions, a session on proposal writing, and a field excursion. Check out the website here. You can already register your interest in attending via the online form.

This is a guest post by Szymon Świątek

New research challenges the assumption that only strong earthquakes cause liquefaction. Scientists from Poland demonstrated that even low-magnitude shocks (~M3.5) can trigger sediment deformation in water-saturated fine-grained sediments. This finding expands our understanding of seismic activity and its effects on geological structures.

This is a guest post by Szymon Świątek

Can we “read” earthquake history by analyzing microscopic quartz grains? New research suggests we can! Scientists from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the University of Potsdam have introduced an innovative method for studying seismic liquefaction. Their findings, published in the Journal of Structural Geology, reveal that quartz microstructures can help identify past earthquakes.

Jim McCalpin will give a talk on paleoseismology, its history, and its applications in the framework of the GeoLearn Hub and the Geohazards Communities online: Sunday, 16 February, 13:00 GMT.

The 2025 Hokudan meeting on active faulting was held online this year from 23-25 January. It was organised by our friend Koji Okumura. The abstract volume is now available for download here: https://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/kojiok/hokudan2025.html. Check it out, there’s some truly cool stuff, for example a trench with a 1700 year-old human skull in it…

These are the latest papers, this time with a lot of studies from the Americas. Enjoy reading!

This is a guest post by Erin McEwan.

River systems are shaped by both gradual and sudden geological processes, and the influence of active tectonics on river behaviour is a fundamental concept in tectonic and fluvial geomorphology. Despite this, much is still unknown about how earthquake surface deformation can alter flood hazard. This is concerning as human populations are increasingly expanding onto floodplains in seismically active regions. A recent review by McEwan et al (2025) in Earth-Science Reviews addresses this knowledge gap by analysing data from 52 sites where fault deformation is known to have induced an immediate change in river behavior; otherwise referred to as a Coseismic River Response (CRR).

Here are the latest papers on active tectonics and paleoseismology. Happy 2025 everyone!