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Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical...
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Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Hazards".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 15914

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Riccardo Caputo

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Guest Editor
Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: earthquake geology; seismotectonics; structural geology; palaeoseismology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Chittenipattu P. Rajendran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
Interests: active tectonics; tectonic geomorphology; earthquake geology; quaternary geology
Dr. Tejpal Singh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CSIR—Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh, India
Interests: tectonics; geomorphology; active faults; seismic hazard
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Earthquakes are extremely complex natural phenomena that are studied from different perspectives using a variety of scientific disciplines and methods which operate over a range of spatial and temporal scales. However, over the last couple of decades, there has been a general agreement to bridge the gaps in spatial and temporal domains to gain unprecedented insights into deformation and earthquake processes. Nonetheless, not undermining the importance of all data and current methods, most of these investigations are guided by geological characteristics and site effects of earthquakes, which are of primary importance for proper seismic hazard assessment.

It is notable that different geological (and in its broadest sense ‘Earth Sciences’) approaches could examine a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, both of which analyze a single event as well as the cumulative effects of earthquakes. Accordingly, geological approaches to the investigation of past and recent earthquakes contribute to the fundamentally important parameters for seismic hazard assessment such as the maximum expected magnitude, the return period for a given magnitude and the mean slip rate.

The proposal of this Special Issue stems from the need to emphasize the importance of a sound geological framework to the extent that it could be integrated with different data and methods to bridge the space and time gap, thus providing a better picture and more accurate quantitative assessment of this complex phenomenon. The Special Issue aims to emphasize the value of the geological record which typically has a more complete spatiotemporal coverage but has yet to be properly documented and better understood. Therefore, we invite contributions highlighting how a comprehensive knowledge of earthquake geology could be linked to short-term geodetic data and seismic catalogs and could eventually contribute to improving our analyses of seismic hazard assessment.

The aim is to bring forth insightful contributions that build on current geological frameworks and employ conventional methods of earthquake investigation, such as deformed stratigraphic and geomorphic markers, together with new techniques. The new techniques able to expand on the classical methods could include morphotectonic mapping, basin morphometry, surface/sediment dating, photogrammetry, satellite geodetic measurements, InSAR, pixel-offset tracking, seismology, shallow sub-surface profiling, GNSS geodesy, etc.

It is expected that such a volume will not only highlight the integration of such techniques but also encourage young researchers to look into the advantages of such an integrated multiapproach. Moreover, it is anticipated that the volume will motivate young minds to explore new and innovative methods while still being strongly rooted in the fundamental concepts of Earth Sciences and Earthquake Geology. It will emphasize the indispensable nature of ground-based investigations and measurements, which are the best suited approaches to adopt in dynamic terranes located on plate margins and in plate interiors.

We welcome contributions describing and critically discussing any Earth Sciences aspects of earthquakes and seismogenic faults from both plate boundaries and plate interior regions, these being characterized by higher and lower seismic hazard, respectively, but commonly by the inversely distributed vulnerability of the buildings. As a consequence, either condition is generally characterized by relatively high seismic risks.

This Special Issue shall focus on the new knowledge and practices that bring together a multidisciplinary faculty of scientific investigation to unravel past earthquakes and cumulative deformation phases from landforms.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes: morphotectonics; paleoseismology; satellite-based analyses of landscape deformation; digital topographic analyses; retro-deformational structural models; reconstruction of landforms, earthquake modeling and seismological analyses of earthquake sequences; modeling stress changes due to earthquakes and future loading and unloading of probable/suspect faults. 

We are looking forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Riccardo Caputo
Prof. Dr. Chittenipattu P. Rajendran
Dr. Tejpal Singh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • active faults
  • tectonic geomorphology
  • earthquake geology
  • paleoseismology
  • surface deformation
  • remote sensing

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 13626 KiB  
Article
The Afghanistan Earthquake of 21 June 2022: The Role of Compressional Step-Overs in Seismogenesis
by Tejpal Singh, Nardeep Nain, Fernando Monterroso, Riccardo Caputo, Pasquale Striano, R. B. S. Yadav, Chittenipattu Puthenveettil Rajendran, Anil G. Sonkusare, Claudio De Luca and Riccardo Lanari
Geosciences 2025, 15(4), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences15040156 - 18 Apr 2025
Viewed by 427
Abstract
The Afghanistan earthquake of 21 June 2022 ruptured a ~10 km-long fault segment in the North Waziristan–Bannu fault system (NWBFS) located towards the north of the Katawaz Basin. The earthquake was shallow and reportedly caused widespread devastation. In this article, we investigated the [...] Read more.
The Afghanistan earthquake of 21 June 2022 ruptured a ~10 km-long fault segment in the North Waziristan–Bannu fault system (NWBFS) located towards the north of the Katawaz Basin. The earthquake was shallow and reportedly caused widespread devastation. In this article, we investigated the long-term, i.e., geological and geomorphological, evidence of deformation along the earthquake segment. For comparison, we also studied the short-term space geodetic and remote sensing results documenting a visible offset between the fault traces. Focusing on the fault modelling and on the published results, it is thus clear that the earthquake rupture did not reach the surface; instead, it stopped in the shallow sub-surface at ~1 km depth. Moreover, the InSAR analyses show some technical issues, such as coherence loss, etc., likely due to severe ground-shaking leaving some gaps in the results; geological and geomorphological evidence complemented this information. As an outcome of this research, we confirmed that InSAR results could generally capture the overall fault geometry at depth, even in cases of blind faulting, whereas the detailed geometry of the tectonic structure, in this case with a right stepping en-echelon pattern, could be successfully captured by combining it with geological and geomorphological approaches and optical remote sensing observations. Accordingly, the right stepping fault generates a restraining bend in the dominantly left-lateral shear zone. Therefore, such fault stepovers are capable of localizing strain and could act as loci for seismic ruptures, bearing strong implications for the seismic hazard assessment of the region, as well as of other strike-slip fault zones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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14 pages, 3346 KiB  
Article
Tectonic Setting and Spatiotemporal Earthquake Distribution in Northern Nubia and Iberia
by Enzo Mantovani, Marcello Viti, Caterina Tamburelli, Daniele Babbucci, Massimo Baglione and Vittorio D’Intinosante
Geosciences 2025, 15(2), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences15020049 - 2 Feb 2025
Viewed by 795
Abstract
The spatiotemporal distribution of major earthquakes in the study area (1600–2024) is analyzed to tentatively recognize the possible connections with the short-term (from decades to centuries) evolution of the ongoing tectonic processes. This study suggests that during the period considered, seismic activity has [...] Read more.
The spatiotemporal distribution of major earthquakes in the study area (1600–2024) is analyzed to tentatively recognize the possible connections with the short-term (from decades to centuries) evolution of the ongoing tectonic processes. This study suggests that during the period considered, seismic activity has been predominantly related to the shortening processes accommodating the convergence of northwestern Nubia with the Iberian and Moroccan plates that mainly involve the westward escape of the Alboran wedge and the NNE-ward escape of the Iberian block. This deformation pattern is inferred from the seismic activity in the North Atlantic domain, the Rif and Betics belts, the western Iberian fault system (onshore and offshore), the Transmoroccan fault system and the Pyrenean thrust front. Seismic activity in the Tell is mainly driven by the Nubia–Eurasia convergence, even though it can be also influenced by the major westward displacements of the Anatolian–Aegean–Adriatic–Pelagian system. This hypothesis could explain the marked increase in seismic activity that occurred in the Tell in the last decades, when that zone may have been affected by the perturbation triggered by the large post-1939 westward displacement of Anatolia. The pieces of evidence and the arguments reported in this study might provide insights into the possible spatial distribution of major earthquakes in the next decades. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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28 pages, 5943 KiB  
Article
Seismic Activity Along the Periadriatic and Sava Faults in the Past Two Millennia—An Archaeoseismological Assessment
by Miklós Kázmér and Krzysztof Gaidzik
Geosciences 2024, 14(12), 331; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14120331 - 5 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1190
Abstract
Most of the Periadriatic Fault System has been active during the Oligocene and Miocene times. Its western part seems to be almost inactive ever since, while the eastern segments show limited seismic activity. We conducted a systematic archaeoseismological survey along the Periadriatic-Sava fault [...] Read more.
Most of the Periadriatic Fault System has been active during the Oligocene and Miocene times. Its western part seems to be almost inactive ever since, while the eastern segments show limited seismic activity. We conducted a systematic archaeoseismological survey along the Periadriatic-Sava fault system, assessing buildings and archaeological sites for earthquake damage. Eleven sites, four Roman and seven Medieval, bear evidence of destructive earthquakes which occurred during the past 2000 years. These are (from east to west): Roman Siscia (Sisak) near the Sava fault in Croatia, Roman Celeia (Celje) at the Savinja/Sava faults in Slovenia, Magdalensberg (Roman) just north of the Karavanka fault, Medieval Villach, the Dobratsch landslide and Medieval Arnoldstein at the junction of Mölltal and Gailtal faults, Medieval Millstatt, Sachsenburg. and Roman Teurnia on the Mölltal Fault, Medieval Lienz (all in Austria) and San Candido on the Pustertal fault, as well as Medieval Merano and Tirol (in Italy) adjacent to the North Giudicarie fault zone. Damaged upright walls of Medieval buildings and deformed floors of Roman settlements testify to local intensity up to IX. Ongoing studies of archaeological stratigraphy and construction history allow the dating of one or more seismic events at each site, ranging from the 1st century AD to the 17th century. It is remarkable that the sites, 20 to 70 km apart, along a <400 km long segment of the Periadriatic Fault system, carry evidence for so many high-intensity destructive events, suggesting that the region is tectonically active. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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24 pages, 55271 KiB  
Article
Santorini Volcanic Complex (SVC): How Much Has the Crustal Velocity Structure Changed since the 2011–2012 Unrest, and at What Point Are We Now?
by Andreas Karakonstantis and Filippos Vallianatos
Geosciences 2024, 14(10), 263; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14100263 - 4 Oct 2024
Viewed by 3563
Abstract
This study is focused on one of the most active features of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc Southern Aegean Sea, the Santorini Island Volcanic Complex (SVC). The recent volcano-tectonic crisis in the intracalderic area has emerged the need for closer monitoring of the region. [...] Read more.
This study is focused on one of the most active features of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc Southern Aegean Sea, the Santorini Island Volcanic Complex (SVC). The recent volcano-tectonic crisis in the intracalderic area has emerged the need for closer monitoring of the region. The 2011–2012 unrest has been attributed to the augmentation of fluid flow inside local mapped fracture zones. After March 2012, the seismic activity dropped significantly, raising questions about whether we would have a long period of quiescence or be on a break before the next period of unrest. In this research, a re-examination of the seismic outbreak of 2011–2012 was conducted by adding more travel-time data from 2013 while we further analyzed the waveform data from 2014 to May 2024 to explore the differences of the SVC body-wave velocity structure by performing seismic tomography in these two time windows. The new dataset serves to identify the state of the Santorini Volcanic Complex. The results show a significant reduction in Vp and Vs anomalies at shallow depths since the period of unrest. At the same time, the distribution of Vp/Vs ratio remains high (>1.87) in the area NNE of Kameni at a shallower depth (2 km). The areas of Christiana Islands and Columbo volcano are mainly characterized by negative body-wave anomalies and low Vp/Vs ratio (1.56–1.64) at shallow depths for the study period, while a possible explanation to results in the submarine volcano may be explained by dry steam/gas phases that may have resulted in the generation of the swarms that occurred in the region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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Review

Jump to: Research

29 pages, 2004 KiB  
Review
AI-Driven Innovations in Earthquake Risk Mitigation: A Future-Focused Perspective
by Vagelis Plevris
Geosciences 2024, 14(9), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14090244 - 15 Sep 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5936
Abstract
This study explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing earthquake risk mitigation across six key areas. Unlike traditional approaches, this paper examines how AI-driven innovations can uniquely enhance early warning systems, enabling real-time structural health monitoring, and providing dynamic, multi-hazard [...] Read more.
This study explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing earthquake risk mitigation across six key areas. Unlike traditional approaches, this paper examines how AI-driven innovations can uniquely enhance early warning systems, enabling real-time structural health monitoring, and providing dynamic, multi-hazard risk assessments that seamlessly integrate seismic data with other natural hazards such as tsunamis and landslides. It introduces groundbreaking applications of AI in earthquake-resilient design, where generative design algorithms and predictive analytics create structures that optimally balance safety, cost, and sustainability. The study also presents a novel discussion on the ethical implications of AI in this domain, stressing the critical need for transparency, accountability, and bias mitigation. Looking forward, the manuscript envisions the development of advanced AI platforms capable of delivering real-time, personalized risk assessments, immersive public training programs, and collaborative design tools that adapt to evolving seismic data. These innovations promise not only to significantly enhance current earthquake preparedness but also to pave the way toward a future where the societal impact of earthquakes is drastically reduced. This work underscores the potential of AI’s role in shaping a safer, more resilient future, emphasizing the importance of continued innovation, ethical governance, and collaborative efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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21 pages, 20051 KiB  
Review
Makran Subduction Zone: A Review and Synthesis
by Peyman Namdarsehat, Wojciech Milczarek, Seyed-Hani Motavalli-Anbaran and Matin Khaledzadeh
Geosciences 2024, 14(8), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences14080219 - 18 Aug 2024
Viewed by 3203
Abstract
This review synthesizes existing research to elucidate the factors driving the distinct tectonic behaviors in the western and eastern Makran subduction zone, focusing on seismic activity, uplift rate, convergence rate, coupling, and subduction angle. The literature identifies the asymmetry in pressure and the [...] Read more.
This review synthesizes existing research to elucidate the factors driving the distinct tectonic behaviors in the western and eastern Makran subduction zone, focusing on seismic activity, uplift rate, convergence rate, coupling, and subduction angle. The literature identifies the asymmetry in pressure and the variation in subduction angles between the western and eastern parts of the Makran as key factors in defining the region’s tectonic patterns. The western region has a steeper subduction angle, resulting in lower pressure, reduced coupling, and decreased seismic activity. This disparity arises from different interactions between the subducted and overriding plates. This article offers an overview of the Makran subduction zone, identifies some knowledge gaps, and suggests directions for future research to improve our understanding of this complex geological region. The review highlights the need for more comprehensive GPS stations and targeted studies on subduction dip angles to better understand the region’s tectonic dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earthquake Geology of Plate Margins and Plate Interiors: Integrating Classical Methods with New Approaches)
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