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A new issue of Quaternary Perspectives, the INQUA newsletter edited by Lyudmila Shumilovskikh, is out now. QP 25(1) includes a great report by Neta Wechsler on the 2017 PATA Days in New Zealand, more info about the 2019 PATA Days to be held in Israel, and a report on the Int’l Field Trip “From 1997 to 2016: three destructive earthquakes along the Central Apennine fault system”, 19 – 22 July 2017, Italy. Allan Ashworth informs in his INQUA president’s report about the changes that lie ahead and the upcoming challenges in re-structuring INQUA. Plus, there are interesting news on other potentially earthquake-related groups and projects such as 1701P (Late Quaternary records of coastal inundation due to earth surface deformation, tsunami, and storms), PALSEA2, HOLSEA, and GEODUST. The current issue of Quaternary Perspectives can be downloaded here (PDF, 2.57 MB) and will soon be archived at the new INQUA website (check it out!).

On 21 August an M_D4.0 earthquake hit the Island of Ischia, Italy. The event occurred at a depth of only ~2 km. Despite the low magnitude, the earthquake had dramatic consequences, and two people were killed by collapsing houses. The INGV EMERGEO working group and CNR-IAMC have now published a report on the coseismic effects of this earthquake, which include ground cracks and mass movements. The full report can be found at earthquakegeology.com or downloaded as a pdf here (3.15 MB).

Please cite the report as: EMERGEO Working Group, Nappi et al. (2017). The august 21, 2017 Isola di Ischia (Casamicciola) earthquake: Coseismic effects, doi:10.5281/zenodo.1003188

On 16 April an earthquake of magnitude Mw7.0 hit the district of Kumamoto, Kyushu Island, Japan. The quake was preceeded by a Mw6.1 foreshock one day before. It occurred on the ENE striking, right lateral Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone. Our colleague Koji Okumura from Hiroshima University has prepared a short report on this surface-rupturing event. Download the report here (PDF, 612 kb). The report will be continuously revised and corrected, so check for regular updates. Thanks Koji for providing this summary!

The M6.0 Napa earthquake came along with some interesting effects. It produced relatively large surface ruptures, but only minor secondary earthquake environmental effects like localized lateral spread, almost no liquefaction and rockfalls, but some hydrological changes. Dozens of geoscientists went out for mapping the earthquake ruptures, supported by InSAR data that precisely show where the ground moved.

Now the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association published a 400-pages report on their findings. The report is available for download here. Make sure to read it, it’s full of data and great photographs of surface ruptures.

Other interesting articles and posts on the Napa quake: more

The preliminary report on the Lorca Mw5.1 earthquake from 11 May 2011 is now also available in English! The quake caused a lot of damages to building despite the relatively low magnitude. One building collapsed and nine people died. The report summarized the geological background, environmental earthquake effects and damaged infrastructure. more