Scientists from 20 countries gather to discuss earthquake geology
Science update, 28 November 2017 - Around the first anniversary of the 2016 M7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, GNS Science hosted 130 geologists from around the world at a meeting focused on the latest research and advances in earthquake geology. Earthquake geology is a discipline that uses the geological record and landscape features to understand the size and frequency of past large earthquakes.
This information is crucial for understanding earthquake hazards and for forecasting the likely location, size and impacts of earthquakes. The meeting, called PATA Days (Paleoseismology, Active Tectonics, Archaeoseismology), has been held annually for the past eight years and this is the first time it has been in the Southern Hemisphere.
The 2017 PATA Days was held in Blenheim and the visiting scientists were taken on a field trip to several of the faults that ruptured in the Kaikōura earthquake. The meeting offered an opportunity for scientists to share the latest research on the Kaikōura earthquake, an unusual earthquake that continues to spur research efforts to understand its complexity. Research from around the world was also presented and discussed, with particularly strong presence at the meeting by scientists from Italy, USA, Spain, Japan, Chile and Greece, along with 15 other countries.
On the 14 November, a public talk was held in Blenheim at which five scientists presented research on earthquake hazards in New Zealand, California and Italy. About 400 people attended and the level of public interest in earthquake research was impressive to many of our international guests. About half the conference participants went on a post-conference field trip around the top of the South Island, visiting several sites along the Wairau fault, Alpine Fault and the Leader Fault in north Canterbury.
The meeting was made possible with support from EQC and project AF8 – an initiative to better prepare for the next large Alpine Fault earthquake.
The meeting featured in the media as follows:
- https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/09-11-2017/why-its-so-important-to-mark-the-anniversaries-of-earthquakes/
- http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/343749/the-kaikoura-quake-taught-us-a-lot-of-lessons
- http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018621559/what-kaikoura-has-taught-us-about-earthquakes
- https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/98878426/when-hikurangi-subduction-zone-megathrust-triggers-tsunami-think-japan-2011