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This is a guest blog by Octavi Gómez-Novell, Universitat de Barcelona, visiting researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). Contact: octgomez@ub.edu

Paleoseismic data are punctual and highly localized in defined fault strands, while earthquake surface ruptures cover much larger and complex regions in comparison. This makes the identification of paleoearthquakes in trenches strongly dependent on the slip that those particular events had at each trench site, as well as on the continuity and quality of the stratigraphy for those paleoearthquakes to be dated and well-constrained in time. For this reason, paleoseismologists always seek to increase observations by trenching several sites along fault deformation zones with the premise that more observational data might: 1) complete the paleoearthquake catalogues closer to the real event count that actually occurred, 2) reduce the event age and detection uncertainties and 3) give insight about surface rupture characteristics. While all of these premises are correct and proven successful in several cases, the truth is that in a handful of other cases increasing observations can significantly difficult the correlation of datasets between sites, making such interpretations highly subjective. For instance, in very populated paleoseismic datasets and/or those with large event date uncertainties there will be multiple correlation options; which is the right one? After all, even though based on observations, paleoseismic data are interpretations, hence models that should be treated as such. Thus, can we improve correlation using numerical modelling?

This is a guest post by Simone Bello from the Università degli Studi G. d’Annunzio Chieti e Pescara, Italy.

The QUIN project (QUaternary fault strain INdicators database) stems from the initiative of a group of researchers to make the structural-geological data of the potentially seismogenic faults cropping out along the entire Apennines in Italy available to the scientific community.

Strain and regional stress databases of active deformation patterns are largely available in the literature but are almost exclusively derived from earthquakes and geodetic data. However, in areas such as Italy, where the regional stress field has remained unchanged over the last few million years, the analysis of structural data relevant for seismogenic purposes can be extended at least to the overall Quaternary time interval. QUIN was born with this assumption. It is designed to integrate, unify, and elaborate high-detailed geologic information on potentially seismogenic faults and provides data on the location, attitude, kinematics, and deformation axes of Fault Striation Pairs (FSPs) measured along Quaternary faults.

Enjoy our latest papers on large earthquake and active faults!

Here’s the latest list of papers on paleoseismology and related fields. Interesting stuff from the NZ and US seismic hazard models, a photo of the fault scarp that formed underwater in the 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake, and much more. Have a great 2024 everyone!

Our colleague Tejpal Singh and his co-guest editors Riccardo Caputo and Chittenipattu P. Rajendran invite contributions to their special issue “Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches” to be published in Geosciences. Please find more info here:

This will be the last paper list of the year, time is flying. We have classical paleoseismological studies, historical earthquake research, a few papers on secondary effects, but also studies looking into more general physics questions of large earthquakes. Enjoy reading!

This has become a long list again, and I partly blame the New Zealanders who are currently publishing a lot of studies related to their new hazard model. Really cool work! But of course the inclined readers will also find other gems for their taste. As always – please send me paleoseismology studies that I have missed. Enjoy reading!

More and more papers emerge on the February, 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and the East Anatolian Fault System. Additionally, we have a database of paleoseismology studies in New Zealand (spoiler: it’s a lot!) and many more papers on paleoseismology and tectonic geomorphology. Enjoy reading!

This month’s paper list has an usually large number of studies on active tectonics of the Balkans and southern Europe. Is this a sampling bias? Perhaps. Don’t hesitate to send recommendations if you publish something cool that you’d like to see included. Enjoy reading!

I’m a bit late this month, so the list is a bit longer. This time we have lots of coastal and offshore studies, even a seafloor earthquake rupture! Enjoy reading.