Tip sheet for International Seismology Research Conference

New Hazard Estimates Could Downplay Quake Dangers In New Madrid, Charleston Areas
Complexity, Statistics, and Physics of Seismicity and Earthquakes
Embargoed for: Wednesday, April 16, 3:30 PM Eastern; Location: Eldorado Hotel--Zia

The dangers posed by a major earthquake in the New Madrid and Charleston, South Carolina zones in the Midwestern and Southern parts of the United States may be noticeably lower than current estimates if seismologists adjust one of the major assumptions that go into calculating seismic hazard, according to a study presented at the Seismological Society of America.

The study revolves around this question: is it unlikely that one major earthquake will follow directly on the heels of a big quake, or are other major earthquakes equally likely to occur any time after a major quake" Hazard estimates for a seismic zone depend on which scenario seismologists choose to plug into their hazard calculations.

Full news release available at www.eurekalert.org.

Unearthing Clues of Catastrophic Earthquakes: “An Inviting Tale of Destruction”
Archaeoseismological Methodologies: Principles and Practices
Embargoed: Wednesday, April 16, 3:30 PM Eastern; Hilton—Mesa C

The destruction and disappearance of ancient cultures mark the history of human civilization, making for fascinating stories and cautionary tales. The longevity of today’s societies may depend upon separating fact from fiction, and archeologists and seismologists are figuring out how to join forces to do just that with respect to ancient earthquakes. "It's an idea whose time has come, " said Robert Kovach, professor of geophysics at Stanford University and a leading proponent that seismology needs to be included in any framework for understanding what happened to past civilizations. Very large earthquakes may have recurrence rates that exceed 500 years, making it very difficult to assign potential hazard estimates.

Archaeoseismology, a young scientific discipline that studies past earthquakes in the archaeological record, allows scientists to broaden the time window to detect these rare seismic catastrophic events. But archaeological evidence for past earthquakes raises a lot of reservations from seismologists, some of them strongly questioning whether man-made structures can be used as earthquake indicators at all.

Full news release available at www.eurekalert.org.

New Effort Funded by UNESCO to Expand Archaeoseismological Research Eastward
Archaeoseismological Methodologies: Principles and Practices
Wednesday, April 16, 3:30 PM Eastern; Hilton Hotel--Mesa C

UNESCO just awarded a five-year grant (IGCP 567) in support of the new discipline of archaeoseismology to Manuel Sintubin, professor of geodynamics at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and his colleagues, who will speak to its importance and of their recent new proposed standardized method for documenting evidence of earthquakes at excavation sites. “We are indeed at a turning point with respect to archaeoseismology -- either earthquake evidence in archaeological sites remains in a world of conjecture and drama or a more objective and quantitative approach gets the upper hand,” said Sintubin. The UNESCO grant will allow scientists to broaden the scope of archaeoseismology to excavations in the Far East.