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A paleoseismological trench has been opened at San Carlo – Sant’Agostino. At this place, liquefaction features and other environmental earthquake effects were recognized after the Finale Emilia earthquake of 2 May 2012, magnitude M_W6.1. The trench reveals normal fault features close to the surface. Our colleague Alex Chatzipetros from Earthquake Geology of Greece posted a great article on the trench work and has all the interesting photos. more

One of the best blog articles I recently read deals with the problems scientists face when they are interested in public outreach. Scicurious perfectly summarizes our situation.

The transit of Venus was a spectacular event, unfortunately not visible from Aachen. A really great photo collection is here at The Big Picture (Boston.com). A cold comfort for those who missed it (like me). They always have the best pictures there, by the way. more

More than two weeks have gone now after the Mw6.1 earthquake in Northern Italy, and a very strong aftershock has rattled the area again and caused casualties and more buildings to collapse. Several reports are already published on that event and we have lots of data which is waiting to be analyzed. Here’s a summary of data sources: more

The University Insubria (Como, Italy) has published the first report on the earthquake environmental effects that accompanied the Northern Italy “Finale Emilia Earthquake” of 20 May, 2012. On that day, a quake with magnitude Mw6.1 rocked the Po Plain, leaving seven people dead and hundreds of houses damaged. On 29 May, a very strong M5.8 aftershock occurred in the region. more

The INGV has published some new data on the earthquake that hit Italy in the morning of 20 May, 2012 and caused damages and casualties. Peak ground accelerations (PGA) reached 28%g in the epicentral area. This is not unusual for an event of that size. Peak ground velocities (PGV) were as high as 20 cm/s. The spectral response is more interesting. The 3s period response is 1.5%g only, at 1s period the area encountered 18%g, and for the 0.3s period the values reached 49%g, which is quite a lot for a Mw6.1 quake. However, the longer periods tend to be more dangerous for buildings. more

An earthquake of magnitude Mw6.1 (EMSC data; USGS: M6.0) rocked Northern Italy on 20 May, 2012 at 2 am UTC. The epicentre was located on 35 km NNW of Bologna in the Po Plain at around 10 km depth. Media report at least 6 people dead and up to 50 injured. Intensities reached up to EMS VIII. Especially old brick buildings suffered severe damages and many collapses are reported. more

The Italian Geological Society (Societą Geologica Italiana), founded in 1881, organizes its 86th meeting in Calabria, Southern Italy (18-20 September 2012). The meeting is entitled

THE MEDITERRANEAN: A GEOLOGICAL ARCHIVE FROM PAST TO THE PRESENT

http://www.sgi2012.unical.it/info_eng.html

Within this meeting, we will held a session on Seismic Hazard Modelling.

We invite those of you interested to consider participating to the meeting and presenting an abstract (in ours or any other session).

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The 86th Italian Geological Society Congress will be held in Arcavacata di Rende (CS) on 18-20 September 2012, at the Università della Calabria, Italy.

We advertise Session TS2.2: Paleoseismicity of the Mediterranean Region and surface – faulting hazard in urban areas. Convenors: Cinti F., Cucci L., Michetti A.M., De Martini P.M., Roberts G. more

Earthquake prediction is possible! At least for toads (well, for bufo bufo only). And at least in Italy. And at least in 2009. Do you remember that story of toads having left their home (lake) before the L’Aquila earthuake and returning after the aftershock sequence? A new paper on this was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Grant et al., 2011: Ground Water Chemistry Changes before Major Earthquakes and Possible Effects on Animals. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 8, 1936-1956; doi:10.3390/ijerph8061936.

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Based on a new inversion of InSAR data, De Natale et al. predicted that the Avezzano and Sulmona tectonic domains, in Central Italy, may anticipate by 15-20 yr the next large earthquake, as a result of stress transfer. Avezzano and Sulmona were razed by a large earthquake in 1915 and 1706, respectively.

Giuseppe De Natale, Bruno Crippa, Claudia Troise and Folco Pingue. Abruzzo, Italy, Earthquakes of April 2009: Heterogeneous Fault-Slip Models and Stress Transfer from Accurate Inversion of ENVISAT-InSAR Data. Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 101(5), 2340-2354, 2011. DOI: 10.1785/0120100220.