Over 250,000 people were killed in the Tangshan, China earthquake of 1976, and other less active tectonic processes can disrupt river channels or have a grave impact on repositories of radioactive wastes. Since tectonic processes can be critical to many human activities, the Geophysics Study Committee Panel on Active Tectonics has presented an evaluation of the current state of knowledge about tectonic events, which include not only earthquakes but volcanic eruptions and similar events. This book addresses three main topics: the tectonic processes and their rates, methods of identifying and evaluating active tectonics, and the effects of active tectonics on society.

The book contributes to understanding the pattern of strain release and the level of seismic hazard imposed by large-great earthquakes in the frontal fold-thrust belts of Kumaun and Garhwal regions of Uttarakhand. The motivation for active fault studies and their characterization have been emphasized. The book presents the compilation of knowledge garnered in multidisciplinary or proxy studies involved in the understanding of seismic hazard in general and Kumaun–Garhwal Himalaya regions in particular with lucid new maps draped on modern Cartosat or SRTM DEM data. It also discusses satellite image calibration, active faults identifications, and map productions with flowchart. The book discusses window-wise active fault elements with attributes together with the tectonic geomorphic map. It also includes active fault scarp with topographic profile along with field photographs. Finally, it reviews all existing seismotectonic models of the Himalaya, its earthquake hazard, and its vulnerability, specifically for Kumaun and Garhwal regions.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 179. This multidisciplinary monograph provides the first modern integrative summary focused on the most spectacular active tectonic systems in North America. Encompassing seismology, tectonics, geology, and geodesy, it includes papers that summarize the state of knowledge, including background material for those unfamiliar with the region; address global hypotheses using data from Alaska; and test important global hypotheses using data from this region. It is organized around four major themes: subduction and great earthquakes at the Aleutian Arc, the transition from strike slip to accretion and subduction of the Yakutat microplate, the Denali fault and related structures and their role in accommodating permanent deformation of the overriding plate, and regional integration and large-scale models and the use of data from Alaska to address important global questions and hypotheses. The book's publication near the beginning of the National Science Foundation's EarthScope project makes it especially timely because Alaska is perhaps the least understood area within the EarthScope footprint, and interest in the region can be expected to rise with time as more EarthScope data become available.

This thesis is remarkable for the wide range of the techniques and observations used and for its insights, which cross several disciplines. It begins by solving a famous puzzle of the ancient world, which is what was responsible for the tsunami that destroyed settlements in the eastern Mediterranean in 365 AD. By radiocarbon dating of preserved marine organisms, Shaw demonstrates that the whole of western Crete was lifted out of the sea by up to 10 meters in a massive earthquake at that time, which occured on a previously unknown fault. The author shows that the resulting tsunami would have the characteristics described by ancient writers, and uses modern GPS measurements and coastline geomorphology to show that the strain build-up near Crete requires such a tsunami-earthquake about every 6.000 years - a major insight into Mediterranean tsunami hazard. A detailed seismological study of earthquakes in the Cretan arc over the last 50 years reveals other important features of its behaviour that were previously unknown. Finally, she provides fundamental insights into the limitations of radiocarbon dating marine organisms, relating to how they secrete carbon into their skeletons. The thesis resulted in three major papers in top journals.

Describes how rivers respond to active tectonics for graduate students, consultants and academic researchers.

New applications to geology and tectonics. Increased material on Quaternary chronology, including lichen chronology and micro stratigraphy of desert varnish. New studies, including research in the Olympic Mountains, Nepal, Australia, Taiwan, the Himalaya, and the New Madrid seismic zone of the central United States. New techniques such as cosmogenic surface-exposure dating, argon and helium geobarometry and geothermometry, regional hyposometric analysis using digital elevation models,