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Paleoseismology

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Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering
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Synonyms

Ancient earthquakes; Earthquake geology; Paleoseismology; Prehistoric earthquakes

Introduction

The aim of paleoseismology is to generate a record of past earthquakes (i.e., magnitude, recurrence interval, timing, etc.) from a range of geological observables preserved within a landscape. This is achieved by identifying features associated with a single paleoearthquake as opposed to the long-term deformation along a fault or within a basin. As such paleoseismology has been defined as “the study of prehistoric earthquakes, their timing, location and size” (McCalpin and Nelson 2009) and as “the study of the ground effects from past earthquakes as preserved in the geologic and geomorphic record” (Michetti et al. 2005). The paleoseismic record provides information on the local and regional deformation accommodated by slip on faults as well as data on patterns of seismicity, which can inform hazard assessments for future earthquakes. In addition to providing information on past...

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References

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Correspondence to Sarah J. Boulton .

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Boulton, S.J. (2014). Paleoseismology. In: Beer, M., Kougioumtzoglou, I., Patelli, E., Au, IK. (eds) Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_21-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_21-1

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