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The 2011 Christchurch earthquake series had severe consequences and surprised scientists for many reasons. Ground motions were extremely strong despite the relative moderate magnitudes of the quakes (M_W 5.3-7.1). The events happened on a system of hitherto unknown faults, some of which are located directly below Christchurch. Earthquake environmental effects (EEE), especially liquefaction, were intense and widespread. It turned out that subsequent quakes reactivated the same feeder dikes of sand blows, showing that saturated sediments are susceptible of liquefaction no matter if they had been liquefied recently (also see the paper of Quigley et al. (2013) on the liquefaction effects). Another stunning lesson was the occurrence of intense rockfall in the vicinity of Christchurch. In a recently published study, Mackey and Quigley (2014) dated rockfall boulders with ³He and show that they allow to estimate the recurrence intervall of local seismic events like the 2011 series. This works is a very interesting way to use EEE for paleo-earthquake studies. more

The 5th PATA Days have been a great experience. We had lots of interesting science and discussions, great field trips, wonderful social events and a quite thoroughly insight into Korean cuisine. It was for sure the best organized PATA Days meeting that took place so far – many thanks and congratulations to Prof. Young-Seog Kim, Dr. Jin-Hyuck Choi and the fantastic Korean organizing team.

If you want to download the abstract volume and the field trips guide, here are the free download links: more

The second day of the meeting revealed very nice and interesting talks of the Korean geologists and paleoseismologists, which was an excellent preparation for the upcoming post-meeting field trips on the following days. Talker of the day was Dr Tom Rockwell, he gave three talks and lectures, however one as replacement for Bill Lettis, who wasn´t able to come to Korea. Before dinner a traditional Korean drum and percussion show opened our ears and eyes for this beautiful and sometimes mysterious country. This closing dinner outside Busan was very special, in a kind of museum with a terracotta choir of a million voices, and…. more

Yesterday and today is the time of the lectures and talks, after the introducing field excursion as Christoph has reported. Yesterday evening we waved goodbye to Christoph with a couple of beers, he already needed to leave for another meeting in Durham, UK, early.  We started yesterday morning with keynotes by John Suppe on folding and fold scarps and Vincent Cronin on his SLAM project (the seismo-lineament analysis method, visit his webpage for more information). more

A good number of interesting papers has been published during the last months, related to active tectonics, paleoseismology and tsunami research. Study sites include Oman, Italy, New Zealand, California, Cascadia, Scotia Sea, and Central Asia. Enjoy reading and tell me, if you miss some publications here!

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During the last three weeks I have been to Kazakhstan for paleoseismological field work and to summarize this journey: It was amazing! The trip was part of the Earthquakes without Frontiers project (EwF). This research project is funded by NERC and ESRC and aims on increasing the knowledge on earthquake hazards in Central Asia. The field work was lead by Richard Walker and scientists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the UK had a close look at fault scarps in the easternmost parts of the country. Our aim was to determine the slip rates of some of the longest and most prominent thrust and strike-slip faults in the area. more

It’s not been long since I’ve listed some recent paleoseismology papers, but it seems like it’s publishing season. So here is more stuff to read during the holidays… more

Dear friends and colleagues,

The deadline for registration of the 5^th PATA-days meeting is extended to June 20, and for abstract submission to the end of June.  

See details on the official website: www.pata-days.org.

Please don’t miss the last chance to visit dynamic Korea!

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On 26 January and 3 February, 2014, two strong and shallow strike-slip earthquakes of magnitude 6+ occured beneath the island of Cephalonia in Western Greece. Both events caused intense damage to buildings and infrastructure. A team of Greek geologists mapped earthquake environmental effects (EEE) such as liquefaction, road failures, rock falls, small/medium size landslides and stonewall failures. The results are now published in a paper in Tectonophysics. more

The Sea Level Research laboratory in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Rhode Island is looking to recruit a PhD student to work on an NSF funded project focused on paleoseismology of the Cascadia subduction zone.
The project involves collaboration with Rutgers University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and the United States Geological Survey. The position can start as early as September 1st 2014. more