Earthquakes pose a significant hazard, and due to the growth of vulnerable, exposed populations, global levels of seismic risk are increasing. In the past three decades, a dramatic improvement in the volume, quality and consistency of satellite observations of solid earth processes has occurred. In a recent paper (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10712-020-09608-2) I review the current Earth Observing…
Contrasting seismic risk for Santiago, Chile
More than half of all the people in the world now live in dense urban centres. The rapid expansion of cities, particularly in low-income nations, has enabled the economic and social development of millions of people. However, many of these cities are located near active tectonic faults that have not produced an earthquake in recent…
PhD Position Available in Fault Geomorphology and Seismic Hazard of Major Fault Zones
Lead Supervisor: Dr John Elliott (Leeds) Co-supervised by: Dr. Laura Gregory (Leeds), Dr Ekbal Hussain (BGS) & Prof. Andy Hooper (Leeds) Contact email: j.elliott@leeds.ac.uk Application: Apply through the University of Leeds portal here: Deadline: 17th June. Funding: The PhD stipend is funded for four years and is open to UK and EU applicants only (the…
Growth of Geological Structure & Topography
The relationship between individual earthquakes and the longer-term growth of topography and of geological structures is not fully understood, but is key to our ability to make use of topographic and geological data sets in the contexts of seismic hazard and wider-scale tectonics. Using observations of an earthquake at the edge of the Tarim Basin,…
Kaikoura Earthquake – Complex Rupture & Mountain Building
Working with collaborators at GNS New Zealand (Ian Hamling and colleagues), we have been examining the major Kaikoura earthquake from November 2016 which shook the South Island. By using the latest satellite instruments and data, combined with field observations, we were able to constrain the complexity of this multi-fault rupture and determine the magnitude of uplift…
Seismic Cities
The rapid urbanisation of cities alongside and on top of poorly characterised faults that are has resulted in large populations being exposed to a potentially large hazard. I am leading a recently funded project called Seismic Cities which will attempt to develop a blueprint to better tackle the question and improvement of resilience to earthquakes in…
The role of space-based observation in understanding and responding to active tectonics and earthquakes
The quantity and quality of satellite-geodetic measurements of tectonic deformation have increased dramatically over the past two decades improving our ability to observe active tectonic processes. We now routinely respond to earthquakes using satellites, mapping surface ruptures and estimating the distribution of slip on faults at depth for most continental earthquakes. Studies directly link earthquakes…
Royal Society University Research Fellowship
I am pleased to have been awarded a 5 year University Research Fellowship by the Royal Society. These Royal Society awards are for early career scientists and provide me the opportunity to build an independent research career and become a leading name of the future in his field. The title of my research fellowship is ‘The Rise…
Hazard in regions of distributed shortening
The 2011 October 23 MW 7.1 Van earthquake in eastern Turkey caused ∼600 deaths and caused widespread damage and economic loss. The seismogenic rupture was restricted to 10–25 km in depth, but aseismic surface creep, coincident with outcrop fault exposures, was observed in the hours to months after the earthquake. We combine observations from radar interferometry, seismology, geomorphology and…
Jumping Earthquakes: limits to rupture forecasting exposed by instantaneously triggered earthquake doublet
An important question in understanding the potential magnitude of earthquakes, and consequently the hazard certain faults may pose, is the distance over which earthquakes can jump during rupture. This is because a critical observation of earthquake scaling which holds true is that the longer a fault rupture, the larger the earthquake. In a bigger earthquake,…
Pinpointing the unbroken section of Nepal fault line and showing why Himalayas keep growing
In our study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, we show that a kink in the regional fault line below Nepal explains why the highest mountains in the Himalayas are seen to grow between earthquakes. This kink has created a ramp 20km below the surface, with material constantly being pushed up and raising the height of…
Earthquake Monitoring Gets Boost from a New Satellite
Europe’s Sentinel-1A spacecraft and its extraordinary images of slip from the South Napa earthquake herald a new era of space-based surveillance of faults.
John Elliott 