PhD opportunity: Holocene palaeoseismicity and sea-level change in Chile

The Department of Geography, Northumbria University, seeks to appoint a PhD student to work on Holocene sea-level change and palaeoseismicity in Chile. Funding is available to UK and international students. The closing date is 20th January 2017. Read on for more details about the position.  

On this day in 1960

A sand layer deposited by the 1960 tsunami,
deposited on top of and later covered by peat

Today, 22nd May 2016, marks the 56th anniversary of the 1960 Great Chilean earthquake. With a magnitude estimated at 9.5, this still stands as the largest instrumentally documented earthquake worldwide. 

Palaeoseismologists have sought to characterise the geological evidence for this earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in a range of different settings.

First days of Thailand fieldwork (+Video)

Evelien Boes, Kruawun Jankaew and I are currently in Thailand looking for sedimentary evidence of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  Our main focus is on coastal lakes and we've spent the last two days exploring various potential sites around Thap Lamu, Khao Lak, Bang Sak and Kho Khao.

Here's a quick glimpse of our travels and travails so far, condensed into 36 seconds...

EGU2016: Speakers announced

We are delighted to announce that Dr Raphaël Paris (Université Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand) will be the invited speaker for the EGU 2016 session "Geological records of extreme wave events". Dr Paris will speak on "Tsunami deposits at high altitudes on the flanks of volcanic islands". 

We're also pleased to welcome Professor Ben Horton (Rutgers), who will give the Plinius Medal Lecture as part of the session. We congratulate Prof. Horton on this prestigious medal and look forward to his lecture on "The importance of sea-level research".

We are still welcoming submissions for session NH5.7/GM12.6/SSP3.20 on any aspect of extreme waves in the geological record, including field investigations, numerical and physical modelling studies and everything in-between. The abstract deadline is 13th January 2016. To submit an abstract, click on the link on the session page of the EGU website. Check out the info page for more details on how to submit. 

Vulnerable Coastal Areas

Philipp Kempf, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University,
presents on his research into tsunamis in Chile

The Belgian Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences held a multidisciplinary workshop on Vulnerable Coastal Areas on 10th December. The workshop, chaired by Cecile Baeteman, brought together researchers from Belgium, the UK and Chile, with presentations on hazard, risk and resilience in a variety of different settings.

So, what happens when a giant tsunami inundates coastal lakes?

This blog post is by Philipp Kempf, PhD student at Ghent University, who writes about his recently published Sedimentary Geology paper on tsunami deposits in coastal lakes in south central Chile. Philipp is now on twitter too, tweeting as @TsunamiPhil.

Pan Pacific Palaeoseismology symposium

Last week I was delighted to welcome fellow academics, friends and collaborators from Potsdam Universty, Ghent University, Durham University and The Geological Survey of Belgium to join me for a symposium on subduction zone palaeoseismology. The day-long meeting was an opportunity to present and discuss the different approaches that we use when studying past earthquakes, tsunamis and subduction zone behaviour.