We are excited to announce that a new project based on the Fault2SHA approach has been funded, led by two of the fault2sha members and involving mostly researchers of the Eastern Betics fautl2SHA-lab (but not only!).
Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-119772RB-I00)
Project Title: NSOURCES: New approaches to earthquake source characterization and their effective integration into fault-based seismic hazard models. Case studies in areas of low-to-intermediate activity of eastern Iberia
IPs: Raimon Pallàs and Eulàlia Masana (Univ. of Barcelona)
Main Partners: From Spain: Universidad Complutense de Madrid; IGME; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Centro Tecnológico del Mármol, Piedra y Materiales; ICGC; Centro Nacional de Investigación en Evolución Humana (CENIEH); SOLDATA IBERIA S.A.; Abroad: IRSN and Univ. of Montpellier (France); Univ. degli Studi G. d’Annunzio-Chieti-Pescara (Italy), UNAM (Mexico); San Diego State University (USA), Helmholtz Institute (Germany); Univ. of Manchester (UK)
The Eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula is one of the most seismically active areas in Europe. Although at a smaller rate compared with other active settings, highly damaging earthquakes also occur in Western Europe, where large uncertainties in seismic hazard combine with low societal awareness to result in increased seismic risk. In Eastern Iberia, some of the seismogenic sources remain poorly studied. This is often due to the subtle expression of active slow faults, especially those located in highly erosive environments or not associated to large nor active fluvial drainages.
In this project, seismic hazard assessment of Eastern Iberia aims to be improved by incorporating new and more precise data on the source seismic parameters of three study areas; the Eastern Betic Shear Zone (EBSZ), High Pyrenees (HP) and the Baix Ebre basin (BEB). The main targets are the Maladeta-Bedous fault system (in the HP), the Palomares fault (in the EBSZ) and the Baix Ebre fault (in the BEB), among others. The improved characterization of their seismic parameters will be achieved with a paleoseismological approach enhanced with new tools in geochronology, geodesy and geophysics, that include i) accurate fault slip-transects and refined fault mapping using LiDAR data, photogrammetry and field work; ii) combination of chronological tools as Schmid hammer, cosmogenic isotopes and violet stimulated luminescence that will sum up with more classical methods; iii) refined location of the paleoseismic event horizons with the use of hyperspectral images; iv) obtention of new geodetic (GPS and CGPS) and InSAR data; v) geophysical characterization of the fault geometry by a joint interpretation approach (Reflection Seismics, Magnetotellurics, Electrical Tomography and GPR).
As a final aim, all the new information on source parameters will serve to perform new probabilistic seismic hazard calculations (fault-system approach in the EBSZ and single-faults in the HP and BEB). Along with this new fault-based PSHA results, educational and information strategies will be undertaken to increase the local population awareness on seismic hazard. The project will make possible the training of young researchers with the implementation and testing of new tools on active tectonics as well as fault-based seismic hazard analysis.