Paleoseismology - Science topic

The sinistral East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) and the dextral North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) are two important strikeslip faults that delimit the boundaries of the Anatolian plate. The north-south directed compressional forces in eastern Türkiye trigger the westward escape of the Anatolian plate along these prominent structures. This study aims...

The NE‐dipping Anghiari normal fault (AF), bounding to the west the Sansepolcro basin in the Upper Tiber Valley (northern Apennines), is thought to be a synthetic splay of the Altotiberina (ATF) low‐angle normal fault (LANF), an active ENE‐dipping extensional detachment whose seismogenic behavior is debated. In order to assess the Anghiari fault ca...

Macroseismic observations can be useful to study pre-instrumental earthquakes when paleoseismological analysis are not viable for various reasons (e.g., erosion or lack of sedimentation). The analysis of the distribution of the macroseismic intensity data points and the reports about geological effects has been shown as a tool that may provide mean...

Many large-magnitude faults (6.5≤ Mw ≤7.2) of the Italian Apennines are characterized by multi-century return times, so historical sources may have missed their last earthquake or other predecessors. Hence, even in Italy, where seismic catalogs are among the most comprehensive and time-extensive worldwide, there is a need for complementary studies...

Yogyakarta has experienced two devastating earthquake disasters: May 26, 2006, Mw6.4, and the penultimate event, June 10, 1867 Mw7.7. The active fault that is thought to be responsible for the two earthquake events is the Opak Fault. However, the Opak Fault has still not been thoroughly well mapped yet. The lack of a high-resolution image, dense ve...

Studies on active and capable faults produce data that presently have a key role in the broad field of earthquake geology, as well as in planning engineering works and land use. In regions with high deformation rates, the approach through paleoseismology could be sufficient to collect data necessary to depict active faults behavior. By contrast, a...

The Mw 6.9 earthquake of November 23, 1980, known as the Irpinia-Basilicata Earthquake, wasthe strongest seismic event to hit Italy in the last century. There were 2,914 victims, 8,848injured and about 280,000 homeless. The earthquake also induced numerous effects on thenatural environment, both primary, surface faulting, and secondary, such as gra...

In Central Italy, the damage induced by the 2016-2017 seismic sequence to the building andinfrastructural heritage and the need to consider the surface fault rupture hazard in thereconstruction process incentivized Seismic Microzonation studies focused on capable faults.The presence of capable faults, that produced dislocation of the ground surface...

The Upper Rhine Graben (URG), located in France and Germany, is bordered by north-south trending faults, some of them considered active, posing a potential threat to dense population and infrastructures from the Alsace plain. The largest historical earthquake in the region is the M6.5+/-0.5 Basel earthquake in 1356. Current seismicity (M>2.5 since...

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...

Liquefaction is one of the most significant and remarkable causes of ground failure in geotechnical earthquake engineering. The phenomenon mostly occurs in saturated cohesionless soils when subjected to seismic loading. Studies on past liquefaction evidence, also known as paleoliquefaction studies, have helped several researchers predict a particul...

The eastern Rhine Graben Boundary Fault (eastern RGBF) forms the eastern margin of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG), the most seismically active area in the plate interiors of Europe. Despite seismic activity posing a significant threat to the densely populated URG and critical facilities therein, only a few studies have documented the paleoearthquake...

GNSS measurements based geodetic studies have led to researchers explaining the regional deformation in the Himalaya in terms of arc-parallel shearing and arc-normal compression (Fig 1 - Refer Text). Arc-Parallel extension is caused due to an increase in the shearing rate, which is reflected in the increasing arc-parallel velocities, as one moves a...

A key challenge in paleoseismology is constraining the timing and occurrence of past earthquakes to create an earthquake history along faults that can be used for testing or building fault-based seismic hazard assessments. We present a new methodological approach and accompanying code (Paleoseismic EArthquake CHronologies, PEACH) to meet this chall...

Landslide deposits preserved in the geological record afford opportunities to better inform hillslope and seismic hazard and risk models, particularly in regions where observational records are short. In the Southern Alps of New Zealand, small coseismic landslides are frequent, but the geological record preserves several instances of more substanti...

The NE-SW trending Ecemiş Fault is a left-lateral strike-slip fault, that delimits the western flank of the Aladağ mountain range within the Central Anatolian Fault System. Although many studies have been performed on the fault consisting of two main segments, which is namely Demirkazık and Pozantı, it is noteworthy that there is no consensus on th...

This archeoseismologic study focuses on the Leukos settlement that thrived on the west coast of the forearc island of Karpathos in the 4th−6th centuries CE. The onshore site occupies the eastern rim of the offshore Karpathos Basin, the deepest Aegean basin, in a sector of the Hellenic forearc typically regarded as seismically insignificant. Investi...

SE Iberia is a tectonically active area with an important history of destructive earthquakes. Some of these earthquakes have been associated with known active faults, but the seismic source of most of them remains unclear. The majority of these earthquakes happened long before instrumental record began, so we can only study them through paleoseismo...

Multicycle earthquake rupture simulators generate long sequences of earthquakes along predefined fault geometries for statistical analysis of earthquake recurrence and related rupture characteristics. Based on the physical approximations of long-term crustal deformation and the short-term rupture process, they can provide a deeper understanding of...

The Magallanes-Fagnano Fault is an active left-lateral strike-slip fault that cuts across Tierra del Fuego, forming the boundary between the South American and the Scotia plates. This fault may trigger strong earthquakes, as documented by the occurrence of two Mw ≥ 7.5 in December 1949. However, this region is characterized by one of the shortest h...

NE-SW trending Söke-Milet Basin is located at the western end of the Büyük Menderes Graben. The Priene-Sazlı Fault limits this basin from the northwest. The Priene-Sazlı Fault, with a length of approximately 40 km, starts from Argavlı in the northwest and traverses the settlements of Sazlı, Söke, Akçakonak, Güllübahçe, Priene Ancient City, Yuvaca,...

The East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ), which represents the plate boundary between the Arabian Plate and the Anatolian Block, is an intra-continental left-lateral strike-slip shear zone developed as a result of changing the last tectonic regime in Eastern Anatolia. Recently occurring earthquakes with a moment magnitude of 6.8 (Sivrice, Elazığ/ 24.01...

Volcanic ash (tephra) horizons are an essential tool for the spatial and temporal correlation of many natural archives. However, tephrochronology is accompanied by age uncertainties that often limit its capacity to effectively constrain age models. This is particularly problematic for paleoseismology in complex tectonic settings such as New Zealand...

The North Anatolian Fault (NAF), located in Turkey, is one of the world's most active faults and accommodates Anatolia's westward motion relative to Eurasia. Over the last century, several earthquakes (M>6.8) have migrated from east to west. It is in the Marmara region, south of Istanbul, that the subsequent rupture is expected. However, this is wh...

While there has been significant research on the dating of paleoearthquakes using methods such as surface cosmogenic dating, and trench-based luminescence or radiocarbon dating, this paper focuses on implementing an alternative surface dating method using a fault scarp-based optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating approach. Hence for the fir...

Previous studies of sediments recovered from the Japan Trench between 37° 25′ N and 38° 30′ N document distinctive turbidite beds induced by huge earthquakes. We studied two sediment cores at 39°N to investigate the depositional record further north along the Japan Trench. These investigations spatially extend our knowledge of the depositional reco...

Los efectos del Cambio climático sobre el régimen hídrico requieren de un enfoque ingeniero diferente adaptado a ellos. Afecta tanto la disponibilidad de agua (demasiada o muy poca) como a los patrones hidrológicos en su sentido más amplio lo que implica la necesidad de reevaluar el diseño y operación de las obras de regulación y captación de las a...

Eastern Mediterranean is being deformed by major intraplate strike-slip fault systems such as North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) and East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) due to the convergence between the Arabian Plate and the Eastern Anatolian Plateau. Even though the studies regarding the paleoseismology and tectonic evolution of the EAFZ have been st...

The geomorphic expression of active faulting and distinction of paleoseismic events in areas that are rapidly obscured by erosion/sedimentation still remains a considerable scientific problem. The present article discusses the revealing of surface faulting ruptures and their parameters to identify capable faults without trenching and to estimate th...

In this study, the active tectonics, paleoseismicity, and seismic hazards of the Doroud Fault are examined through high-resolution satellite image interpretations, field investigations, outcrop and trench excavations, and the dating of geochronology samples. The Doroud Fault (DF), one of the essential segments of the Main Recent Fault in the northe...

To constrain fault processes and hazard, fault slip rates may be extrapolated over different fault lengths or time intervals. Here, we investigate slip rates for the Cucamonga Fault (CF). The CF is located at the junction of the Transverse Range fault system with the San Andreas and San Jacinto Faults, and it is hypothesized to connect with these f...

A major challenge in seismic hazard research is to quantify the frequency of large earthquakes along active faults, more so when the observational time windows of seismic catalogs are much shorter than the average fault recurrence intervals. In this respect, paleoseismology continues to prove to be an excellent tool to extend the seismic catalogs o...

The 1884 Andalusia Earthquake, with an estimated magnitude between 6.2 and 6.7, is one of the most destructive events that shook the Iberian Peninsula, causing around 1200 casualties. According to paleoseismology studies and intensity maps, the earthquake source relates to the normal Ventas de Zafarraya Fault (Granada, Spain). Diverse studies regis...

The flower structure of the Kurai Fault Zone in the southeastern Gorny Altai has been studied using geomorphological, paleoseismological and geophysical methods. It has been determined that 13 paleoearthquakes with moment magnitudes Mw from 6.6 to 7.6 have occurred in the Kurai Fault Zone during last 16 thousand years. Surface ruptures of Holocene...

On April 28 2021, an earthquake of MW 6.4 occurred near Sonitpur, Assam, India. The epicenter was 43 km away from Tezpur, Assam with a focal depth of 34 km. The National Center for Seismology (NCS), Delhi reported the maximum intensity of MMI–V whereas the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the maximum intensity of MMI–VII. Preliminary...

The south-eastern Gorny Altai is one of the most hazardous seismogenic area in the north of Central Asia. We present a synthesis of field, 230Th-U geochronological, mineralogical and geochemical data collected on seven Quaternary travertines. All travertines occur within the zones of active faults that border the Chuya and Kurai intermontane basins...

The Himalayan orogenic belt is one of the world's most seismically active mountain belts, accumulating strain during the interseismic period and releasing it as earthquakes. In the last century only, it has been the locus of some of the largest continental earthquakes in the world. The recent 2015 Gorkha earthquake shade on our understanding of the...

Searching for unknown earthquakes in Slovenia in the first millennium, we performed archaeoseismological analysis of Roman settlements. The Mesto pod mestom museum in Celje exhibits a paved Roman road, which suffered severe deformation. Built on fine gravel and sand from the Savinja River, the road displays a bulge and trench, pop-up structures, an...

Deep-sea turbidite has been used to determine the history of occurrence of large earthquakes. Surface-sediment remobilization is a mechanism of the generation of earthquake-induced turbidity currents. However, the detailed mechanism of surface-sediment remobilization caused by earthquake ground shaking is unclear. To understand how high peak ground...

The occurrence of coseismic surface ruptures along fault traces in urbanised areas creates a serious hazard to the vulnerability of man-made manufactures. In order to mitigate such hazard, it is necessary to investigate the geometry, the activity and the capability of faults located close to urbanised areas. This paper presents a case study of the...

The 1884 Andalusia Earthquake, with an estimated Magnitude between 6.2 and 6.7, is one of the most destructive events that shook the Iberian Peninsula, causing around 1200 casualties. Ac-cording to paleoseismology studies and intensity maps, the earthquake source relates to the nor-mal Ventas de Zafarraya Fault (Granada, Spain). Diverse studies reg...

The Liulengshan Fault (LLSF), which lies on the northeastern edge of the Ordos Plateau, is a controlling boundary fault in the northern part of the Shanxi Rift system (SRS). The displaced landforms show that the fault has undergone strong and frequent late-Quaternary seismic activities. In 1989 and 1991, two moderate–strong earthquake swarms (Ms=6....

Measuring displacements of strike-slip paleoearthquakes from trenching excavations requires detailed 3D trenching excavations. Here a new methodology utilizing an iOS based laser scanner and structure-from-motion is used to reconstruct stratigraphy and trace a displaced fluvial channel sequence across the Dog Valley fault in Northeastern California...

The sinistral East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) and the dextral North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) are two important strikeslip faults that delimit the boundaries of the Anatolian plate. The north-south directed compressional forces in eastern Türkiye trigger the westward escape of the Anatolian plate along these prominent structures. This study aims...

Understanding the three‐dimensional structure, segmentation, and kinematics of complex fault systems is essential to assessing the size of potential earthquakes and related seismic hazards. The Danghe Nan Shan thrust, a major splay of the Altyn Tagh fault (ATF) in north Tibet, is one of these complex fault junctions. Near the town of Subei, the wes...

During the neotectonic period in Western Anatolia, many grabens or half-grabens developed under the NNE-SSW extensional regime, the edges of which were bounded by normal faults. The Yatağan half-graben is located between the Büyük Menderes and Gökova grabens, and its southwestern edge is bounded by the Yatağan Fault. The Yatağan Fault is an active...

Fault slip rate is one of the most crucial parameters to characterize earthquake occurrence in fault-based seismic hazard assessments (SHA). Accordingly, paleoseismic studies have increasingly focused on constraining this parameter in active faults worldwide. We present a comprehensive paleoseismic study in the Alhama de Murcia Fault (AMF), one of...

An earthquake of M = 5.6 occurred on the March 20, 2019, in Acipayam, Denizli, located in a seismically active area at the southwest Anatolian fault system, in Türkiye. It caused extensive damages of infrastructures. The relevant fault (Acipayam–Serinhisar fault zone) has not shown on the active fault map of Türkiye, and it has been discovered firs...

Earthquake-induced submarine slope destabilization is known to cause mass wasting and turbidity currents, but the hydrodynamic processes associated with these events remain poorly understood. Instrumental records are rare, and this notably limits our ability to interpret marine paleoseismological sedimentary records. An instrumented frame comprisin...

Excavated trenches at two sites across the Marquesado–La Rinconada fault system along the eastern Precordilleran front south of San Juan, Argentina, reveal the earthquake history of this rapidly urbanizing region. Interpretation of earthquakes is based on both the generation of colluvial wedges and upward fault terminations, as well as folding even...

The Pamir Frontal Thrust (PFT) located in the Trans Alai range in Central Asia is the principal active fault of the intracontinental India-Eurasia convergence zone and constitutes the northernmost boundary of the Pamir orogen at the NW edge of this collision zone. Frequent seismic activity and ongoing crustal shortening reflect the northward propag...

We infer a ~2,700-year history of Cascadia megathrust and other earthquakes from two small mountain lakes located ~100 km inland of the coast near the California/Oregon border. We use the characteristics of disturbance deposits in the historic portion of the sediment cores from the lower lake to identify a deposit from the 1700 CE Cascadia earthqua...

We infer a ~ 2,700-year history of Cascadia megathrust and other earthquakes from two small mountain lakes located 100 km inland of the coast near the California/Oregon border. We use the characteristics of disturbance deposits in the historic portion of the sediment cores from the lower lake to identify a deposit from the 1700 CE Cascadia earthqua...

Crustal faults above subduction megathrusts have been shown to have the capacity to produce moderate-to-large earthquakes (fault reactivation), causing severe damage for inhabited areas in the vicinity. Fault reactivation has been dynamically related to the interseismic stage of the subduction cycle and to megathrust earthquakes. In the northern Ch...

Special Issue "Active Tectonics and Earthquakes"（https://www.mdpi.com/journal/geosciences/special_issues/H06H5Y8JVP） Print Special Issue Flyer Special Issue Editors Special Issue Information Keywords Published Papers A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Hazards". Deadline for manuscrip...

We investigated the Late Quaternary activity of a major, crustal fault affecting the southern sector of Central Apennines, i.e., the Roveto Valley Fault (also known as Liri Valley fault). This sector of the chain was hit by numerous M>5 historical seismic events. For some of these, e.g., the 1654 one (Mw 6.33), the causative seismogenic source has...

The East Boundary Thrust (EBT) is a ~ 500 km long linear to curvilinear deformation zone that accommodates the bulk of present crustal deformation along the Sunda-Andaman plate edge convergent margin. EBT is the main active tectonic structure responsible for accretionary prism formation in the outerarc ridge of the Andaman and Nicobar subduction zo...

Crustal faults above subduction megathrusts have been shown to have the capacity to produce moderate-to-large earthquakes by fault reactivation, causing severe damage for inhabited areas in the vicinity. Fault reactivation has been dynamically related to the interseismic stage of the subduction cycle and to megathrust earthquakes. In the northern C...

The Alhama de Murcia Fault is one of the main seismogenic faults in the Eastern Betic Shear Zone. In the segment between Lorca and Totana, the fault is composed of five main branches, four of them having been studied previously with paleoseismology. This work focusses on the unexplored branch (N2a-AMF) to analyse its seismic potential and to refine...

The seismogenic fault pattern of the central Apennines of Italy provides a natural laboratory to study interactions and feedbacks between long- and short-term deformation in extensional settings. The Monte Pettino seismogenic fault (MPF) forms the NE basin boundary fault of the Pliocene-Quaternary L’Aquila intermontane basin. The total offset along...

The seismicity in the SE Iberian Peninsula is distributed parallel to the coast in a well-developed strike-slip fracture system known as the Eastern Betic Shear Zone (EBSZ). This work focuses on the characterization of the shallow subsurface structure of the Algezares-Casas Nuevas Fault, within the Carrascoy Fault System of the EBSZ. The Carrascoy...

An earthquake of M = 5.6 occurred on the 20 March 2019 in Acipayam, Denizli has caused extensive damages of infrastructures, located in a seismically active area at the southwest Anatolian fault system, in Türkiye. The causative fault (Acipayam-Serinhisar fault zone) has not shown on the active fault map of Türkiye and it has been discovered first...

Previous studies on sediment recovered from the Japan Trench document distinctive turbidite beds induced by huge earthquakes along the Japan Trench and their wide occurrences in area of 37°25’- 38°30’N. We studied two sedimentary cores at 39°N in order to investigate the depositional earthquake record in the further spatio-extened areas of the Japa...

At least five surface rupturing earthquakes that occurred during a <300 year time span near Carson City, Nevada, USA form a spatiotemporal cluster of earthquakes similar to those observed on fault systems around the world. These earthquakes exhibit not only temporal clustering behavior, but also have varying rupture boundaries during successive ear...

Current seismic hazard assessment in Italy is founded on the huge amount of data stored in the Italian seismic catalogues, among the most complete and extensive in the world. Nevertheless, studies of active tectonics over the past 30 years have demonstrated that recurrence times on a single fault may be longer that the timespans explored by histori...