
Petra ŠtěpančíkováThe Czech Academy of Sciences | AVCR · Neotectonics and thermochronology
Petra Štěpančíková
PhD
About
72
Publications
20,218
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,029
Citations
Introduction
I´m currently head of the department of Neotectonics and Thermochronology at the IRSM, Czech Academy of Sciences, and I´m intersted in tectonic geomorphology, paleoseismology, active tectonics and long-term evolution of the relief.
Additional affiliations
November 2000 - December 2014
January 2010 - March 2010
Publications
Publications (72)
The Superstition Hills Fault (SHF) exhibits a rich spectrum of slip modes, including M 6+ earthquakes, afterslip, quasi‐steady creep, and both triggered and spontaneous slow slip events (SSEs). Following 13 years of quiescence, creepmeters recorded 25 mm of slip during 16–19 May 2023. Additional sub‐events brought the total slip to 41 mm. The event...
The Superstition Hills Fault (SHF) exhibits a rich spectrum of slip modes, including M 6+ earthquakes, afterslip, quasi-steady creep, and both triggered and spontaneous slow slip events (SSEs). Following 13 years of quiescence, creepmeters recorded 25 mm of slip during 16-19 May 2023. Additional sub-events brought the total slip to 41 mm. The event...
The Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt is an active continental volcanic arc related to subduction along the Middle America trench. It is characterized by intra‐arc extension resulting into several major arc‐parallel active fault systems and tectonic basins. The Acambay graben, one of the largest of these basins, is located near Mexico City, in the centra...
We studied the southern part of the NW-SE trending Sudetic Marginal fault (SMF), situated at the northeastern limit of the Bohemian Massif in central Europe, to assess its Quaternary activity. Eighteen trenches and thirty-four electric resistivity profiles were performed at Bílá Voda to study the fault zone and 3-dimensional distribution of a behea...
The area of Southern Bohemia between Novohradské hory Mountains and the Třeboň and Budějovice Basins – the Novohradské Foothills (in the south of the Czech Republic) is known for the occurrence of moldavites. These tektites are abundant in fluvial Koroseky sands and gravels. This study focuses on reconstructing the paleostreams, which deposited the...
The Mariánské Lázně Fault (western Bohemia, CZE) is a morphologically, geologically and tectonically prominent structure with that is 150 km long with an NNW-SSE orientation. Its tectonic activity, especially in the NW part and in the neighbouring Cheb basin, is well known and has been proven by present-day earthquake swarms, mantle-derived CO2 ema...
Kashmir basin in the NW Himalaya is surrounded by the main Himalayan boundary faults, has very well documented historical earthquakes and a good instrumental earthquake record. However, the causative faults of these earthquakes except the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake (M7.6) are not known. One of many historical earthquakes that have struck and...
Earthquakes in slowly deforming intraplate regions like Poland are not as frequent or of high intensity as at the plate boundaries. However, few low‐to‐moderate intensity earthquakes have been reported to have shaken different regions of Poland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We present an intensity re‐evaluation of one of the...
We present results from complementary geological, topographic, seismic and electrical resistivity surveys at the Sagebrush Flat (SGB) site along the Clark fault (CF) strand of the San Jacinto fault zone trifurcation area southeast of Anza, California. Joint interpretation of these data sets, each with unique spatiotemporal sensitivities, allow us t...
The Eger (Ohře) River terraces originated in varied morphotectonic and climate-morphogenetic conditions that existed during the late Cenozoic evolution of the western part of the Bohemian Massif. In the area between the Smrčiny Mountains and the Sokolovská pánev Basin, these levels of the Eger River terrace system were identified (Table 1): the Pli...
This work presents the results of 3-D movements of faults occurring in the Dědičná štola Gallery in the Rychlebské hory Mts. during the period between 2014 and 2017. The faults were monitored by TM-71 extensometers. The detected fault slip is nonlinear and is affected by short transient periods of acceleration. One dominant and a series of minor tr...
Seismogenic faults that have not produced historical large earthquakes remain unnoticed and, thus, are dangerously
left out from seismic hazard analyses. The seismogenic nature of the Carboneras Fault Zone, a left-lateral strike-
slip fault in the Eastern Betic Shear Zone (southeastern Spain), has not been fully explored to date in spite of
havin...
The NNW-SSE trending Mariánské Lázně Fault (MLF) zone is situated in thewestern part of the BohemianMassif
(Czech Republic, central Europe) and controls the eastern limit of Cenozoic Cheb Basin. The Cheb Basin is wellknown
for present-day earthquake swarms,with maximummagnitude not exceedingMw4.0, and abundant occurrences
of mantle-derived carbon-d...
The Acambay Graben, within the central part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, is one of the major sources of continental earthquakes in Mexico. To date, the activity and paleoseismological history of the axial faults of the graben are not well constrained. We provide morphological, structural and sedimentological evidence of the seismogenic natur...
The western part of the Bohemian Massif hosts an intersection of two regional fault zones, the SW-NE trending Ohře/Eger Graben and the NNW-SSE trending Mariánské Lázně Fault, which has been reactivated several times in the geological history and controlled the formation of the Tertiary Cheb Basin. The broader area of the Cheb Basin is also related...
Although earthquakes in slowly-deforming intraplate regions like Poland are not as frequent or of high intensity as at the plate boundaries. However, few low to moderate intensity earthquakes have been reported to have shaken different regions of Poland in the 19th century. We present a preliminary intensity re-evaluation of one of these earthquake...
Offset alluvial fans along the Elsinore fault in the south-central Coyote Mountains were studied to resolve an average late Quaternary slip rate for this major western strand of the San Andreas fault system in southern California. Alluvial fans and their offsets were mapped using high-resolution DEMs combined with field observations of fan-surface...
This poster describes some non-traditional techniques to reveal hidden fabric in faulted soft rocks.
Successions of colluvia and loesses covering the faults in the eastern and central parts of the Bohemian Massif were exposed in six trenches (two trenches at each fault, up to 6 m deep) and studied in detail in terms of stratigraphy and deformation. Based on OSL and radiocarbon ages these sediments were dated as Weichselian Early Glacial to Younger...
The Eger Rift and Cheb basin in northwestern Bohemia are part of the European Cenozoic Rift System. They are associated with earthquake swarms, voluminous CO 2 outgassing and Quaternary mantle-derived volcanism. The Eger Graben, of which the Cheb basin is traditionally considered a subbasin, contains a Cenozoic volcano-sedimentary record no thicker...
The Eger Rift and Cheb basin in northwestern Bohemia are part of the European Cenozoic Rift System. They are associated with earthquake swarms, voluminous CO2 outgassing and Quaternary mantle-derived volcanism. The Eger Graben, of which the Cheb basin is traditionally considered a subbasin, contains a Cenozoic volcano-sedimentary record no thicker...
Intraplate earthquakes represent a significant risk to the cities located within the central part of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt as illustrated by the 1912 6.9 Mw Acambay earthquake. The epicenter was located 80 km northeast from Mexico City. The Acambay Graben is a part of a tectonic active intra-arc graben and bounded to the north by the 42 km...
The 7th annual PATA (Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics, and Archeoseismology) Days Workshop was held from 30 May through 3 June, 2016 in beautiful Crestone, Colorado, USA. PATA Days is the premiere event for the INQUA focus group “Earthquake Geology and Seismic Hazards” (IFG EGSHaz). PATA Days provides a venue for the international exchange of new...
Subsurface manifestation of the Mariánské Lázně Fault was investigated by means of combined geophysical surveying and integrated interpretations of measured data sets. The integrated results of the electrical resistivity tomography, shallow refraction seismics and gravity survey indicate a wide steeply inclined fault zone, likely formed of intensiv...
The Rychlebské hory
Mountains are situated in the north-eastern part of the Bohemian Massif. They are part of Sudetic Mountains
, which are divided from Sudetic Foreland by the Sudetic Marginal Fault
. Controlling the mountain front for a length of 130 km, the fault is one of the morphologically most striking features in the Bohemian Massif and has...
We present the results of intensive field investigations of the scarp associated with the 23 February 1892 earthquake in northern Baja California. Newly recognized additional offsets suggest the rupture was about 58 km in length, twice as long as previous estimates. Slip produced in the 1892 event varied from purely dextral slip near the internatio...
Concentrations of natural radionuclides of K, U and Th along vertical profile of a research trench studying the Sudetic Marginal Fault were established by detailed focused gamma-ray spectrometric measurements. Geological scheme of the profile is shown in the Fig 1. Analyses of K, U, Th were carried out by two gamma-ray spectrometers, i.e. GS-256 an...
We studied speleothem fracturing styles and their tectonic context in three cave systems situated in the eastern Bohemian Massif close to the Western Carpathians orogenic front: the Za hájovnou, Javoříčko and Mladeč Cave. Based on the morphology of speleothems, in particularly thin stalactites, and supporting evidence from the cave interior, a tect...
An analysis of fault-slip data from the Lusatian Fault Belt, limiting the Lusatian Block of the Bohemian Massif in the SW, yielded parameters of eight successive paleostress patterns, Late Cretaceous to Plio-Pleistocene in age. These patterns were linked with specific stages in fault kinematics and fault-belt deformation. They include (1) α1, NE- t...
We give an interpretive review of the geological evolution of the Nysa-Morava Zone (NMZ)—a Late Cenozoic tectonically active region of the NE Bohemian Massif located at its contact with the Western Carpathians’ orogenic front. This crustal domain, delimited by generally NW–SE-striking fault system, is characterised by Oligo-Miocene and Plio-Pleisto...
We present new results from a paleoseismic trenching campaign at a site across the Jordan Gorge Fault (JGF), the primary strand of the Dead Sea Transform in northern Israel. In addition to the previously recognized earthquakes of 1202 and 1759 C. E., we observe evidence for eight surface-rupturing earthquakes prior to the second millennium C. E. Th...
The Acambay graben is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) which strikes ESE-WNW across central Mexico, where the major part of the Mexican population is concentrated. The TMVB is an active, calc-alkaline volcanic arc that is related to the subduction of the Rivera and Cocos plates underneath the North American plate. The TMVB contains a...
The lateral variation in rates along a fault and its constancy along
time is a matter of discussion. To give light to this discussion, short,
mid and long term offset distribution along a fault is needed. Many
studies analyze the short-term offset distribution along a strike-slip
fault that can be obtained by the analysis of offset features imprint...
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is characterized by a relatively low rate of seismicity. However, several damaging earthquakes have produced a loss of hundreds of human lives in the past centuries (e.g. 27/12/1568; 19/11/19123; 03/01/1920). The seismic risk in this region, in which maximum magnitudes of M 7 are expected, is increased by seve...
Geodynamic activity in the area of West Bohemia is typified by the occurrence of earthquake swarms, Quaternary volcanism and high flux of mantle-derived CO2. The highest swarm activity occurs beneath the eastern edge of the Cheb basin, which is delineated by the NW-SE trending morphologically pronounced Mariánské Lázně Fault (MLF) controlling the f...
It is possible to monitor slow-moving landslides and assess landslide stabilisation measures over protracted periods using an optical–mechanical crack gauge called a TM-71. This technical note outlines the theoretical background to the gauge and illustrates its practical application through a number of case studies. These studies are drawn from a r...
Most catastrophic earthquakes occur along fast-moving faults, although some of them are triggered by slow-moving ones. Long paleoseismic histories are infrequent in the latter faults. Here, an exceptionally long paleoseismic record (more than 300 k.y.) of a slow-moving structure is presented for the southern tip of the Alhama de Murcia fault (Easte...
This study deals with application of two geoelectrical methods in order
to study geophysical expression of logged geological structures exposed
in an artificial trench and their continuation laterally and to the
depth. The trench was excavated within the Mariánské
Lázně fault zone, which borders the mountain front of the
Krušné hory Mts towards the...
Reconstructing erosional and faulting history in the old crystalline
basement terrains, with lacking or sparse post-tectonic geological
records, is a challenging task where even radiometric data on the
basement rocks need not to provide ultimate answers. NE part of the
Bohemian Massif (known as the Sudetes) represents a classic example
where numero...
The Rychlebské hory Mountain region in the Sudetes (NE Bohemian
Massif) provides a natural laboratory for studies of postorogenic
landscape evolution. This work reveals both the exhumation history of
the region and the paleoactivity along the Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF)
using zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe), apatite fission track (AFT), and apatite
(U-Th)/...
Ortuño Candela M., Zúñiga F. R., Corominas O., Perea H., Ramírez-Herrera M.T., Štepancíková P., Villamor P., Aguirre G., Norini G.
Terrestrial and airborne LiDAR data, and low altitude aerial photography have been utilized in conjunction with field work to identify and map single and multiple-event stream-offsets along all strands of the San Andreas fault in the Coachella Valley. Goals of the work are characterizing the range of displacements associated with the fault's prehis...
The NW–SE striking Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF) is one of the most conspicuous tectonic structures in central Europe. It controls the pronounced morphotectonic escarpment of the Sudetic Mountains for a length of 130 km. This paper presents the results of trenching on the SMF, undertaken in order to assess activity of the fault. The trenching techni...
The southeastern Iberian Peninsula shows a wide distribution of seismicity, which together with the very slow plate convergence rate (4-5,6mm/yr) suggests, the presence of a number of hidden seismogenic faults widespread and slow-moving. Few of these faults have produced catastrophic historical earthquakes and the rest have remained silent historic...
The Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF) separates the Fore-Sudetic block on the NE and the Sudetic block on the SW of Bohemian Massif. The fault slip data along the SMF yielded two different subhorizontal orientations of the maximum stress axes. The NE–SW oriented compression was computed in the Fore-Sudetic block, while the NNW–SSE compression is recorde...
The Alhama de Murcia fault (FAM) is part of the Eastern Betics Shear Zone (EBSZ), one of the most seismically active regions of the Iberian Peninsula. The fault, of NE-SW strike, is prominent along an almost 100 km trace and constitutes the geomorphologic southeastern boundary between a train of ranges situated in the NW block (Eg. Las Estancias an...
This paper presents results of morphotectonic research carried out in order to determine the neotectonic development of the drainage network in the NE spur of the Bohemian Massif (central Europe). The area studied comprises the north-eastern sector of the Rychlebské Mts, belonging to the Sudeten Mountains and the adjacent part of the Žulovská Hilly...
Rock landforms in the Sokolský hřbet (ridge) and the adjacent Žulovská pahorkatina (hilly land) have been analysed through detailed field mapping at a scale of 1:10,000; subsequently the spatial distribution of these features was analysed using a DEM within a GIS framework. Particular attention was focused upon the shape of the rock landforms, thei...
The Hronov-Porici Trough represents the easternmost part of the Trutnov-Nachod Depression. The NW-SE striking structure was formed due to the post-Cretaceous flexural folding and is filled with the Upper Cretaceous sediments. Both the NE and SW margins of the trough are bounded by flexures with the Upper Cretaceous strata dipping 40-60 degrees towa...
We analysed a nearly 133-km-long portion of the Sudetic Marginal Fault (SMF) in Poland (99.7 km) and the Czech Republic (33.8 km), comprised between Zlotoryja in the NW and Jesenik in the SE. The fault trace has been subdivided into fifteen segments showing different orientation (N29 degrees W to N56 degrees W, and even N111 degrees W SE of Zloty S...
The Rychlebské hory Mts. are situated in the northeastern spur of the Bohemian Massif. The morphologically distinct Marginal Sudetic Fault, which borders the Sudetic mountain range both on the Polish and Czech sides, runs through the studied area in the direction NW - SE, dividing the Sokolský hřbet Ridge, the centre of the area of interest, from o...
A detailed geomorphological analysis of terraces within this part of the valley is submitted in the article. Only denudated relics of these terraces occur in the studied section of the valley. Comparison to the terrace system of the Vltava River was exerted for the arrangement of the Sázava terraces into the stratigraphical chronology. The terraces...
Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., V Holešovičkách 41, 182 09 Praha 8, mbroz@irsm.cas.cz ABSTRACT The recent mobility of the marginal parts of Bohemian Massif is manifested by an increased seismic activity and presence of mineral waters. Prominent tectonic faults are accompanied by the mine...
Anglické resumé