A new earthquake catalogue has been published by the GFZ Potsdam (German Research Centre for Geosciences). The Database covers the European-Mediterranean area and reaches back to AD1000. This is good news and an important step on our long way to collect all earthquake information available in one place. I say it’s a first step only, because we know much more than the catalogue incorporates: Besides ~100 years of instrumental records we have historical data covering hundreds of years in many regions, but reaching back to some thousands of years in regions like Greece and Israel. Then, there’s archaeoseismological data of course and paleoseismology, which can resolve events that happened thousands of years ago. more
The coolest thing I’ve seen this week came from the British Geological Survey. They developed an app (for Android only) called iGeology 3D, which paints the geological map of your position around you. Yes, in 3D. Yes, only in the UK, but hey – great stuff! And it’s free, okay, it’s tax money… On Facebook, students are already stating that they will have a very easy mapping course next year. I can only hope that classical mapping (with compass, a map made up of paper, hammer, hand lens, acid and all that 20th Century stuff) will remain a basic course for all geoscience students. I’ve seen a geological compass app for a smartphone in the field recently, but it worked on very few hardrock surfaces only, because the owner didn’t want to dirty his mobile… more
Last week was really weird for earthquake geologists. We have seen one of the strongest earthquakes ever measured and another handfull of major events, all of them showing strike-slip fault movement. Manuel came up with the perfect description at his Planeet Aarde Geoblog: It’s strike-slip week on Planet Earth. more
UGM SESSION: PALEOSEISMOLOGY, SEISMIC AND TSUNAMI HAZARD
Mexican Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (RAUGM) 2012
28 October – 2 November, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF POPULATED AREAS are located on active plate boundaries where great earthquakes and tsunamis have occurred in recent, historical and prehistorical times. Scientists have been working into explaining the origin and recurrence of these events to improve their ability to assess seismic and tsunami hazards in the near feature.
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A very nice animation of the 2011 worldwide seismicity for earthquakes M ≥ 4.5 in the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwWn_W6ZbT4&feature=youtu.be (with sound intensity for each earthquake plotted on an orthographic globe map).
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The University of Cologne (Seismological Station Bensberg) invites applications for an open position as a Doctoral Student. An essential part of the research activities of the candidate will be dedicated to his/her work on a dissertation project. This work will be part of a research project on Archaeoseismological Studies in Midea and Tiryns, Greece concerned with the possible seismogenic cause of the decline of the great Mycenaean palaces of the Argolis.
9:00 The second day started with a great keynote, Chris Scholz talked about earthquake triggering and fault synchronization with examples from California and Iceland.
09:45 Next great keynote: Clark Burchfiel on the Wenchuan EQ!
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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
The Christchurch earthquake was the main topic of the Geoblogosphere this week. A great analysis on the effects was provided by Dave Petley in his Landslide Blog. Highly Allochthonous reasoned on seismic lensing, Ontario Geofish posted a lot on building security, and countless news sites came up with photos and reports. Frank Taylor, who hosted the GoogleEarthBlog before he left for a sailing trip around the world, was in Christchurch next to the Cathedral when the quake happened. On his Tahina Expedition website he reports on his experiences.
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