A new Horizon Europe MSCA-DN project has been funded by the European Commision.

Project Title: TREAD, data and pRocesses in sEismic hAzarD

Project Coordinator: Bruno Pace (Università Chieti-Pescara, Italy)

The aim of TREAD is to train a new generation of researchers to tackle the challenges of earthquake forecasting in complex tectonic settings using integrated observations and physics.

The TREAD objectives are:

(i) to develop a novel integrative approach to seismic hazard analysis in Europe and the Mediterranean from small-scale laboratory experiments to large-scale observations. 

(ii) to establish physics-based earthquake modelling bridging time scales from millions of years to fractions of a second in complex tectonic settings.

(iii) to improve the link between earthquake geology, computational modelling and hazard and risk assessment with a focus on the needs of governments, industry and scientific stakeholders.

To reach these objectives the TREAD consortium comprises 14 academic and 8 non-academic institutions, of which 8 private partners, of high scientific level, from 7 European countries, covering cutting-edge knowledge and expertise in observational, experimental and modelling fields:

• Università degli Studi di Chieti-Pescara (Ud’A), Italy
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
• Universiteit Utrecht (UU), Netherlands
• Fondazione GEM (GEM), Italy
• Université Grenoble-Alpes (UGA), France
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Germany
• Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain
• Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Italy
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland
• Institut de Sureté Nucléaire et de Radioprotection (IRSN), France
• Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Italy
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Italy
• Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany
• Institut de Physique du Globe (IPGP), France
• Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HZDR), Germany
• Willis Tower Watson (Willis), United Kingdom
• IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), France
• Eléctricité de France (EDF), France
• Università degli studi di Milano Bicocca (UNIMIB), Italy
• Munich REb (MUNCHRE), Germany
• TNO (TNO), Netherlands
• TRE-Altamira (TRE), Italy
• Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), France

11 PhD positions will be available soon: HERE the details.

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. 

The workshop in Pisa (IT) “Hands-on fault-based PSHA: data and approaches to build models” is over. For many of us it was the first in-presence meeting after a long period of restrictions due to COVID-19.We hope it could represent the first of many other opportunities, for this enlarged community! We thank all the speakers, participants, INGV and Italian Civil Protection Department for the chance given both of discussing scientific topics and sharing technical issues. The Fault2SHA EXCOM believes it is time to think and organise the 6th Fault2SHA meeting, isn’t it? 
You will be asked soon to choose about two options that seems to be feasible for next Spring, in 2022. Your vote will drive the choice, then ……..stay tuned!

We would like to invite you to submit an abstract to the session “S14: Imaging and modeling 3D fault complexities in FAULT2SHA” at the 37th General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission.The ESC will be held virtually on 19-24 September 2021. (https://www.erasmus.gr/microsites/1193).
The deadline for the abstracts submission is on April 19, 2021.

The form for abstract submission is available at the following link:
https://www.erasmus.gr/microsites/1193/abstract-submission

S14: Imaging and modeling 3D fault complexities in FAULT2SHADefining the 3D geometries of faults and their structural and rheological complexities not only presents challenges for field geologists, but also for seismic hazard assessment (SHA). Roughness of the fault plane, friction, asperities and bends constitute primary controlling parameters in physics based earthquake rupture models. Advanced seismic-cycle and earthquake rupture simulations incorporating these variables in 3D models have shown the occurrence of complex earthquake ruptures. Meanwhile, structural and field geologists are analyzing data at micro- and macro-scales, revealing that microscale observables can influence earthquake ruptures, or that, for example, strain partitioning, propagation of earthquake rupture or the seismic/creeping behavior can be influenced by steps, bends, gaps and barriers within and between faults. Modeling the 3D geometry incorporating the variability of these fault parameters along-strike and down-dip is the new frontier that earthquake scientists are beginning to explore, and a key scientific target of the Fault2SHA community. Finally, as the assessment of seismic hazard is ultimately concerned with the expected ground motion, to what extent are empirical ground motion prediction equations and physics-based ground motion simulations capable of capturing these complexities? This session welcomes contributions from: (i) earthquake geologists, seismologists and structural geologists exploring fault geometry and behavior, including detailed imaging of fault properties along-strike and down-dip; (ii) simulations of complex ruptures and earthquake recurrence through dynamic and multi-cycle simulations; (iii) incorporation of characteristic of 3D fault based ruptures into SHA; (iv) and ground motion modelers (empirical and physics-based) investigating the influence of such complex micro- and macroscale 3D complexities.

Conveners: Francesco Visini, Bruno Pace, Laura Peruzza, Oona Scotti and Graeme Weatheril

On December 29, 2020, an earthquake of magnitude Mw 6.4 shook the region of Petrinja in northern Croatia, 45 km south of Zagreb.

Considering the high magnitude of the earthquake and the potential occurrence of coseismic deformations over large areas, we contacted our Croatian colleagues from the Geological Institute of Croatia (HGI) to participate in the field investigations and establish the first bases for scientific collaboration. After several on-line meetings, the « EU team » planned a first series of field surveys, despite the sanitary crisis and the cold winter, in order to collect the data before their erosion.

The first week of geological surveys, focused on the surface fracture, has just ended. A second will begin and will develop the recognition of the liquefaction features, numerous in this particularly humid zone of the Kupa river catchment, a tributary of the Sava River. French (Lucilla Benedetti, Adrien Moulin, Maxime Henriquet, Stéphane Baize), Italian (Paolo Boncio, Bruno Pace, Francesco Iezzi, Alessio Testa) and Slovenian (Petra Jamšek Rupnik, Matevž Novak, Rok Brajkovič, Jure Atanackov, Bogomir Celarc, Ana Novak) geologists therefore joined the Croatian colleagues in the field (Branko Kordić, Matija Vukovski, Marko Budić, Marko Špelić, Nikola Belić), to complete the mapping of the rupture already largely advanced by the Croatian colleagues alone. This dataset will enrich the existing database of surface ruptures (SURE ; Baize et al., 2019).

The mapping program was regularly coordinated between the various partners who split into several groups every day. This collective work made it possible to confirm the existence of a rupture of moderate dimension for such an earthquake, with a rupture length of several km and maximum offsets of 15-20 cm, to discuss in the field and to think about future joint actions to improve knowledge of the seismogenic potential of the Pokupsko / Petrinja fault and associated structures, which are still largely unknown and which threaten this populated region of the territory. STAY TUNED!

Cosmogenic nuclides as a tool to constrain rates of deformation

Lucilla Benedetti, CEREGE-CNRS, Aix en Provence, France

11th January 2021 15:00 Central European Time

The use of cosmogenic nuclides has revolutionized the quantification of fault motion by filling a critical gap between short-term geodetically recorded slip-rates and geological-long term- slip rates. In this lecture I will present 1-the important aspects to be understood when dealing with cosmogenic nuclides from sampling strategy to getting exposure ages, 2-several applications such as the use of depth profiles to date the emplacement of morphological surfaces, fault scarp dating to unravel past seismic events, relief building and denudation rates, and a novel application on triangular facet to assess normal fault slip-rates.

Click here for Zoom Link for session