On 3 March, 2021, an earthquake of magnitude MW6.3 hit northern Thessaly in Greece. According to the USGS, the hypocentre was at 11.5 km depth. Normal faulting occurred either on a plane dipping 55° to the SW or on a plane dipping 36° to the NE. The quake caused a lot of damage in the village of Tyrnavos (Τύρναβος) and the surrounding areas. Widespread liquefaction was also observed. On 4 March, 2021, a mb5.8 aftershock occurred. Our colleagues S. Pavlides, A. Chatzipetros, S. Sboras, E. Kremastas and A. Chatziioannou have prepared a first field report in which they document the environmental effects of the quake.
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The 2nd announcement for the International Palaeoseismological Field Workshop ‘Soft-sediment deformation structures and palaeoseismic phenomena in the South-eastern Baltic Region’ is out now. Download the PDF here and check this website for more informatin on the project. The workshop will be held from 17 – 21 September, 2018, and is organised by the Lithuanian Geological Survey, Lithuanian Geological Society, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, and Klaipėda University.
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A paleoseismological field workshop on “Soft-sediment deformation structures and palaeoseismic phenomena in the South-eastern Baltic Region” will be held in Lithuania from 17-21 Septmeber, 2018. The workshop is organized by the Lithuanian Geological Survey, the Geological Society of Lithuania, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and Klaipėda University, Lithuania. more
Now that the new dates for the 8th PATA Days 2017 in New Zealand are fixed, it is time to bring to your attention an exceptional paper that was already published in 2016. I planned to write a review long time ago, but I just managed to do so now. The paper by Quigley et al. is not only likely to become your favourite read during the long flight to New Zealand, but it will also serve as an extremely valuable contribution to the study of earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) in general. The authors report on, and summarise, the effects that the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence had on the environment. The paper is special in many ways: more
Today’s paper round-up is rather short. Maybe this is due to the start of the field work season and many editors being involved in field research, maybe it’s just holiday season. Maybe I’ve missed some papers because I have been in the field, too. However, there are some very interesting studies, especially concerning tsunamis. Enjoy reading and please tell me what I’ve missed in the comments.
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It’s June and it’s time for a new paper round-up, isn’t it? When I compiled the list during the past weeks I already realized that there’s a lot of new literature out there, and I guess this month’s post is probably the longest list we’ve ever had – 21 articles! So here are the latest papers on paleoseismology, tsunamis (maaaany tsunami papers this time), and active tectonics. As always: Any suggestions are highly appreciated. Enjoy reading!
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Here is my latest update on paleoseismology-related literature. Plenty of new hot stuff has been published, today we have: archaeoseismology & liquefaction in Corinth, incredibly good data from the Gorkha earthqukae (Nepal), an earthquake that deviated the Po River, paleotsunamis in Israel and Taiwan, notes about tsunami boulders, and tsunamis in Greece. Enjoy!
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The 2015 GSA Annual Meeting will be held in early November in Baltimore and since the deadline is approaching (11 August) it is time to check paleoseismology sessions. One of the many interesting sessions will be chaired by our colleagues Mark Quigley and Tim Stahl: “T186 – Estimating the Timing and Characteristics of Continental Earthquakes from Geologic Data”. Tim told me that there will be “some great invited speakers lined up speaking on paleoliquefaction, lake varve deposits and San Andreas fault paleoseismology“. more
A few weeks ago I spent ten days of field work in the Suusamyr Valley in Kyrgyzstan. In the framework of the EwF Project and COMET a team from Oxford (Eleanor Ainscoe, Austin Elliott, Richard Walker) and Kyrgyzstan (Kanatbek Abdrakhmatov, Azat Moldobaev) re-visited the epicentral area of the 1992 MS7.3 Suusamyr earthquake. This thrust earthquake is quite special for it produced intense and widespread secondary earthquake environmental effects (landslides, rockfalls, secondary ruptures, mud eruptions, etc.), but remarkably short primary surface ruptures only. Actually, surface ruptures of several metres height were found near the Suusamyr river, but limited to few hundreds of metres in length. Some 25 km to the west, another set of surface ruptures appeared, which were only about 1 m in height and less than 3 km long. Here are some impressions from our field work. more
On 15 October, 2013 a shallow Mw7.1 earthquake occured in Bohol, Philippines. The quake caused more than 200 fatalities and severe damages. Instrumental intensities of VIII – IX were recorded and the USGS estimates the maximum slip to be around 120 cm. Stéphane Baize from the French IRSN created a report not only on the seismological and tectonic background of the earthquake, but also on the earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) that were caused by the event. more
